A Game of Gods and Monsters
by WordsAtDawn
Summary: There's a place that rises at sunset and disappears at dawn. A land of misfits and leftovers, of the Ice Queen, the Shadow Man, the Firebringer and the Owner of Nightmares. There's a place where the past is the key to your future, and your life is just another bet on the card's table. Welcome in the Land of Gods and Monsters. Would you like a bit of gambling? [Elsanna] [Crossover]
1. πρόλογος - Prologue

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Ah, I always liked dark places. They hide so many powerful secrets.

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…Oh, I'm sorry, did I scare you?

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You.

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I'm talking with you, _jeune._

Don't look around. Do you see anybody else in here?

Yes, you.

You, with that little confused smile on the face.

Come on, don't be shy. Come closer.

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Oh, _je m'excuse_, again. Is it too dark for you?

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Here.

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Better now, isn't it?

Candles' light is my favourite. Deliciously creepy.

What do you think?

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But why are you so silent? Do you hope to pass unnoticed?

You know that's not the way you do it, right?

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My name is Facilier. The Shadow Man. I bet you've heard of me.

Come on, sit down. I don't bite, you know.

Not hard, at least.

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Don't look at me like that, I was just _kidding_! Sit down.

Here, in front of me.

_S'asseoir_.

Don't mind the chair, it creaks a little. Every single one in here does.

There, good.

I just want to play cards with you.

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What? You know my reputation, and you don't want to play with me?

You don't want to be cursed, you say?

Don't worry, _mon-ami_. This deck is harmless.

Honestly, I wouldn't waste the good one on you.

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Oh, what a touchy one you are!

Wait, come on. Don't go.

Wait.

The exit is just in front of you, I know, but wait.

Stay with me just another minute.

I promise you won't regret it.

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_Merci beaucoup_.

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Come on, let's play, it's just for fun.

It's not like you have anything else to do, here.

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_Bon_. I'll be the dealer.

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Would you like a bit of gambling?

Who loses pays a price.

What price? I don't know. We'll decide later.

Poker, shall we?

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One, two, three, four, five…

One, two, three, four, five…

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You know what? Playing cards always makes me think about the past.

I played games with lots of people. More than I can remember.

But with her…

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Oh. Queen Elsa was completely different.

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Time to draw. How many cards you replace? Three? Here they are, treat them well.

Me? I'm pleased with my hand, thank you.

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What was I saying? Oh yes, Queen Elsa, right.

Uh? You know her?

Mhm… Uhm…

Oh.

Let me tell you, friend, you know _nothing_.

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Hey, calm down, I'm not calling you a liar!

What you said about her is true, indeed.

She was born with ice powers, froze her own kingdom, and then her sister – Princess Anna, yes, you got it right – with her act of true love thawed her heart.

True.

But the whole truth is way bigger, and you know nothing but a little part of it.

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I played cards with Queen Elsa so many times.

She used to sit just here, you know?

Where you are sitting right now.

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With her, it wasn't just about playing cards. It was absolutely _not_ about playing cards.

That was a different game.

A game of time.

A game of lives.

A game of love.

A game of gods.

A game of illusions.

A game of monsters.

A game where everyone was the dealer, but no one knew how to play.

The longest and best game of my whole life.

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What now, _jeune_? Time for showdown.

King of Spades.

Jack of Hearts.

Jolly – I like this card.

Ace of Clubs.

Queen of Hearts.

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Jolly, Jack, Queen, King, Ace.

Ten, Jack, Queen, King, Ace.

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Straight.

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Looks like I won.

And I'm not talking only about this little game. I'm talking about the big one.

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I'm talking about the game of Gods and Monsters.

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_Je m'excuse_, sorry, I didn't want to laugh.

But the look on your face – my words intrigue you, don't them?

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Well, if I have won, you have lost. So you have to pay the price.

And I have the perfect price for you.

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Make yourself comfortable. You're going to hear a story.

The story of the best game I've ever played.

The story of what happened between Queen Elsa and her sister, Princess Anna; the story of how pure their love for each other was – in every land, in every time.

I'm going to tell you what happened next. I'm going to reveal you the secrets of time, lives, love, the secrets hidden by gods, illusions and monsters. I'm going to tell you why I know Queen Elsa and why she knew me, and who other she knew. Why I am here, and why _you_ are here.

And I assure you, you're not here by mistake.

I'm going to tell you the story you came here for, if you only have the patience to hear it.

Do you have it?

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_Fantastique_.

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Be sure to listen, and don't lose a single word.

After all, stories are thin and fragile as illusions.

They can disappear and never reveal their trick.

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Or they could just make _you_ disappear.

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_...who knows?_


	2. καταβολή - Beginning

Beginning

Ꭷ

**καταβολή**

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__Frozen wind from the mountain most high.__

* * *

><p><em>Cold.<em>

_Winds whirled with rage, a furious lullaby surrounding the melancholy of those lost lands.  
>Not a single human foot dared to step on those frozen, dusty grounds. <em>

_It was cold.  
>After all, the actual rulers of those abandoned landscapes were not made by flesh and bones. Not only.<em>

_Cold.  
>But was it the land, or their souls?<br>Stone, fire and darkness were the welcoming reserved to those who were brave, or fool, enough to step across the terrifying gates that they knew._

_The gates were the common world disappeared, and their world began._

ᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧ

Tump. Tump. Tump.  
>Muffled sounds, like a slow roll of drums.<br>Or a countdown. For what, no one actually knew.  
>No one, except him.<p>

Tump. Tump. Tump.  
>The Underworld echoed at every step, and the demons look-a-like torches that covered the walls of the Castle lighted up one by one.<br>He was walking slowly down the hallways of the Underworld.  
>At his sides, the Hounds of Tartarus escorted him, roughly growling to the few spirits and souls who flew in there.<br>Everyone had to bow, in front of the God of the Deads.

But there was someone, he ironically thought, that never needed to remind anyone to bow.

Hades felt a chill running down his spine and stopped, suddenly, immobile in front of a closed door.  
>The sound of a melancholic sitar came from there.<br>From there, the Moirai's room.  
>The Hounds barked at him, they wanted him to hurry.<br>Maybe they were counting the steps that separated them from _there_, too.

But Hades didn't move. He smirked, passing an hand between his flaming blue hairs, and remembered he was doing the same thing and was in same exact place, that night.  
>He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.<br>Cold air.  
>That night.<br>The night when everything had started.

ᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧ

_He was walking in the hallway just like he often did, that night.  
>It was a simple boring night as all the others, in which Hades came to wonder if Zeus would have ever invited him to another party on the Olympus. Just to have a little fun.<br>He had reached the Trophies Hall, just at the end of the Throne Room, when he heard an agitated whispering from afar.  
>Whispers were not any news in the Underworld, where silence was one of the most underrated rulers.<br>But it was different._

_That whisper was frightened._

_«It did not happen since when, Clotho?»_  
><em>He approached the door that led to the Moirai's room, soundlessly: who would have wasted the occasion of a divine entrance?<em>  
><em>«He will not like this».<em>  
><em>Were they talking about him?<em>  
><em>Hades pushed slowly the door to open it and peek inside.<em>  
><em>What wouldn't he like, in Lachesis' mind?<em>  
><em>«Should we tell him?»<em>  
><em>He clogged behind them, too far away to be noticed, close enough to hear.<em>

_And then he saw._

_Clotho had stopped her spin. She never stopped her spin. But for some reasons she still turned her grey and gloomy face to the sisters._  
><em>Lachesis held the wire, the mouth opened in daze, breathless.<em>  
><em>Atropos, who had the eye, was trembling, unable to control the hand which held the scissors.<em>

_Initially he didn't understand. A wire, a cut, zac, a new tenant._

_Not that time._

_Zac. First cut._

_Clotho put her hands on her mouth._

_Zac. Second cut._

_Lachesis let go of the wire she was holding, raising the hands in the almost non-existent hair._

_An old tale says that a devil loses his powers when he bursts into tears. In the same way, then, the Moirai weakened when they found some special wires, different from the others._  
><em>And that was the case.<em>

_Zac. Third cut._

_The sound of the scissors which fell to the ground echoed in all the Underworld._  
><em>The wire floated in the air, the blue light it emanated illuminating the face of the God.<em>

_It was intact._

_ᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧ_

The Hounds barked, annoyed, and he woke from his trail of thoughts.  
>One of them grabbed the God's tunic between his teeth and tried to pull him away.<br>He began to walk again, counting the steps he still had to take.  
>He wondered if the Hounds growled for anticipation, or fear.<br>The sound in the room went lower and lower.  
>Almost as if the Moirai felt he wasn't there anymore.<p>

ᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧ

_He wasn't willing to be just a spectator anymore.  
>Hades took his time to recover from what he had just seen.<br>Sparks of surprise, of _anger_, lightened his hair, but he controlled himself.  
>When he entered the room, making as much noise as he could opening the door, the Moirai immediately jumped, desperately trying to hide the wire and the scissors. In the impetus, Atropos hid their eye, too.<br>«Hades!» Clotho started, her voice unnaturally high. «O-Of course we knew you would come! You…»  
>«Cut the babbling, since it's the only thing you seem able to cut» Hades interrupted, sharp, but without wasting the occasion of another pun.<br>__«I saw everything».  
><em>_The three old women looked at each other – or at least this was their intention, having them no eye.  
><em>_«How much time has passed?» Hades continued, walking back and forth with his hands behind his back. «Since the last time you found a wire like this, I mean. You seemed so concentrated on it that you didn't even predict my arrival.»  
><em>_They stiffened.  
><em>_«So, what aren't you telling me?» the Moirai didn't fail to notice the little red flash of light on Hades' flaming head.  
><em>_He snapped his fingers, bending over the three of them.  
><em>_The light of the torches behind his back, his figure looked tall, menacing and dark.  
><em>_Except for the red flames now covering his hands, too.  
><em>_«Is there some God or magician I am not aware of? Why. Can't. The wire. Be cut?»_

_He stopped and glared at each one of them. _

_Atropos and Clotho noticed too late that Lachesis couldn't handle it anymore: when they tried to grab her to shut her mouth she had already talked.  
>«The eye has shown us the future!» she bursted out. Her sisters sighed.<br>«It did» they confirmed.  
>Hades cocked an eyebrow.<br>«Oh, really?» he said, «Very interesting. Finally a bit of action after all this time of inactivity!» he laughed, but then immediately returned serious and aggressive. «Tell me who, what, where, when and why. And tell me NOW!»  
>The Moirai stepped back.<br>«We cannot» Atropos gulped. «It's the rule. We cannot reveal the future but using prophecies».  
>«Fucking rules» Hades snorted. He knew them well, too. «Ok, ok, then tell me in rhyme. Be quick!» he finally said, waving his hands in the air, full of expectation.<br>The Moirai jumped and hastened to recover the eye. It started to float in the air, flashing of a tenuous blue light, but this time it showed no images.  
>When the monotone voice of the Moirai came out, Hades could literally see every single word floating in the air, and teasing him with their unintelligible meaning.<em>

_ᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧ_

_Hades was the God of the Underworld and, as his brothers used to say, he should have considered himself lucky to still be in charge. After what happened with Wonder Boy – pardon, Hercules, the mighty son of Zeus – he had seriously risked to be banded, but Zeus himself had had pity of him. Pity. Hah. As he needed it.  
>He hadn't seen Zeus in who knew how many time, and his other brother, Poseidon, showed rarely to assure he wasn't plotting another plan to take over the Olympus. No, he wasn't. He had had enough of that shit.<br>He shouldn't have worried so much. Poseidon had told him, once, that if he didn't care about anyone, then no one would have cared about him. Still, that wire impossible to cut had started irrepressible chills upon his immortal back. _

_Was out there something similar to him?  
>Another immortal who he didn't know about?<br>Someone who could, perhaps, bring back memories he wanted to forget?_

_If there was something he really didn't need it was another God completely goody-two-shoes that could ruin his by now only business – fill the Underworld. If there was a problem like that, it needed to be fixed. Immediately.  
>After leaving the Moirai, Hades reached the shores of the Charon's River, where hundreds of souls were walking or washing their ghastly feet. He left Pain and Panic to send away some of them and put on his face the most fake smile.<br>«Charon! Can we have a little chat?»  
>The infernal ferryman tightened his grip on the oar.<br>«Of course, Sir. Do you need something?»  
>«Oh, I just wanted to know if everything was alright» Hades chirped. «Did you notice anything… Strange, in this days?»<br>He shook his ghostly head.  
>«Nothing, Sir».<br>«Are you sure?»  
>«Positive, Sir».<br>Hades sighed. He shot a little ember on the wooden boat and Charon gasped.  
>«Hey!» he exclaimed, pouring water on it. «Sir, are you insane?»<br>«I will be if you don't tell the truth» Hades growled. «I will give you three seconds to answer, think carefully: did you notice something strange? For example, a soul that acted in a particular way?»  
>«I-I don't remember…» Charon muttered. «I have done my job as always…»<br>Hades opened his palm.  
>«One…»<br>«Really, Sir, there are so many souls everyday that I…»  
>«Two…» a ball of fire appeared in the God's hand.<br>«Okay! Okay, fine!» Charon surrended. «There was, uh… One soul. Some time ago. I went at Lake Avernus to get a bunch of spirits for another usual crossing, and there were a lot of them coming from everywhere, as always…»  
>«Let's go to the point» Hades snorted.<br>«And there was this soul. I don't know where it was from. It was shaking. I didn't care, it happens everytime, the soul is already there but the Moirai haven't cut the wire already. Usually it takes a few seconds and then it completely detaches from the body and stops shaking. But this one didn't».  
>«It didn't?»<br>«No. I was beating the other spirits with the oar to force them to get on the boat, and I screamed to it to move. It looked at me in the eyes and then said: "It's not my time yet" and disappeared. That's it».  
>Hades' flames were starting to become red.<br>«"That's it"?» he repeated. «A soul disappears from the Avernus and your comments reduce to "that's it"?!»  
>«I thought the Moirai decided not to cut the wire anymore!» Charon justified. «It happens sometime! I thought she was just-»<br>«**She?!**»  
>Hades jumped and grabbed Charon by his bony neck, red flames on his head.<br>«It was a woman?!» he barked.  
>«I-I don't know, there was so much confusion that…»<br>«But you said she!»  
>«It looked like a woman but I don't know, I swear I don't know!»<br>Hades let go of him and put his hands on his temples, calming himself.  
>A… <strong>woman<strong>.  
>The blue wire that couldn't be cut belonged to a woman.<br>«And so the idea to go out there and beat the problem up blows away…» he muttered, shaking his head and wondering why bad luck couldn't happen to Zeus, too.  
><em>

ᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧ

The Hounds barked again, but in a way lower tone than a few moments before.  
>Tump. Tump. Tump.<br>There were less steps left to their destination, and he could already see the changes in the _decorations_ of the surroundings.  
>Those who wandered there had to show their courage or, as the only one who could contrast him liked to say, their utter foolishness.<br>Not a single torch enlighted the hallway, except for, he knew, the two sparkling flames beside the entrance he was walking to.  
>Like if the path to that desired sight had to be tortuous and difficult, like if he had to <em>deserve it<em>.

ᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧ

_«Give me that eye».  
>Do not interfere with destiny, they said.<br>He wouldn't be the God of the Underworld if he followed the rules.  
>The Moirai stepped back, their eyeballs focused on the scissors and the wires he had in his hands.<br>«Hades» Atropos tried, «don't play with forces more powerful than you are. They could destroy you».  
>«Do I look like I care?» the God howled. «Now give me that eye or I swear I'm going to cut every single wire I find, even the ones to patch my damn tunic!»<br>«You won't do it!» Lachesis screeched, horrified. «You can't just kill anyone, it has to be done with a criterion!»  
>«Then give me your eye right now!»<br>The Moirai hesitated. Eventually, Clotho sighed and launched the eye to him.  
>Hades catched it in middle air.<br>«There!» he grinned. «Not so complicated, wasn't it?»  
>He let go of scissors and wires – which the three old women hastened to pick up – and turned the eye between his fingers.<br>«Show me the woman who owns the wire that cannot be cut».  
>The eye immediately responded. Hades opened his hand and it started to float, lighting up with blue. This time, however, in the middle of it he could see a face.<br>Her face.  
>It was a woman, indeed: blonde hair, very light, as discoloured by a wipe of a sponge; blue eyes, a blue that seemed made by sky and sea mixed together. The first adjective Hades's mind spat out was <strong>beautiful<strong>.  
>Then, just after, <strong>destroyed<strong>.  
>Hades knew that look. He saw it in some of the souls that walked on the shore of the Charon's River, and sometimes – just one time, actually – he had seen it when looking in a mirror: the look of who knows nothing will ever be the same.<br>The God tilted his head, trying to recognize where the woman was: it was difficult, because everything was covered by snow and ice. It was a real storm. It was...  
>What was that on her feet?<br>Hades squinted to look: the woman was walking slowly through the wind, and didn't seem to feel the cold at all. Everytime her feet touched the ground, an ice patina appeared on it.  
>The God widened. The thought that maybe she could have some kind of power was immediately confirmed when the woman moved with anger – with pain – her hand and an icicle emerged from nowhere, pinching itself against a tree already tired by the wind.<br>He had sensed right: that woman had ice powers.  
>That was… So…<br>…So beautiful, again.  
>Hades continued to watch, charmed. He could look behind her – which she couldn't – and he saw nothing but destroyed land.<em>

_She was powerful._  
><em>Really, really powerful.<em>

_Why a woman with such power had an expression of pure pain on her face?_

_He had never seen something like that. A complete storm controlled by one single person. The wind barely touched her, and when it did, it only caressed her, as it feared to hurt her. She was in the eye of the storm. She **was **the storm._

_That woman was the one person whose wire could not be cut._

_...and that didn't make any sense!_  
><em>Hades was sure he would have seen a goddess, a witch, someone old and ugly who had mastered the secret of immortality, not… that.<em>  
><em>She was not immortal.<em>  
><em>She looked so tiny and fragile that a simple touch could have destroyed her, crushed her in a thousand pieces as a china doll.<em>  
><em>Then why couldn't her wire be cut?<em>  
><em>Why was she <em>_invincible?_

_That was exactly what Hades wanted to discover._

_ᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧ_

Almost dragged by the Hounds, Hades continued walking until the Throne Room appeared at the end of the hallway. In that moment, the dogs lost their aggressive and frightening temperament and started to bark and to jump, running away and whining against the closed door.  
>The God snorted.<br>«Bags of fleas» he grumbled.  
>The dogs didn't even listen to him, scratching the door and trying to enter. Hades pulled them away and grabbed the doorknob – and he felt a little laugh ready to exit his mouth because, it seemed, someone in there had a real thing for closed doors.<br>He had just started to push the gate when he heard the voice.  
>«Oh, come on, buddies. After all we all know who the real Alpha wolf is, here».<br>The Hounds of Tartarus got through the figure and the authority of the God of the Underworld and ran in the room. Hades followed them and closed the gate: he restrained a shiver, because the cold in the room was completely in contrast with the heat the Underworld did and had to show.

The Hounds didn't bark anymore. They stopped in front of the throne wagging in search of attention, in front of that throne that surmounted his because of its beauty, its unicity, its _owner_.  
>Pain and Panic were on that throne, too. They were clung at those black thorns which converged on its back, making it seem as it was made of bloody swords, and they weren't talking either. They needed consent, and no, not his.<br>Hades had the image of the throne printed in his memory, by now. But he couldn't sate his eyes with the sight of the one who was sitting there.  
>The one who had stepped gently across the gates, and had changed everything with the grace and dangerousness of a poisoned caress.<br>The one who could change everything with a single, silent move.  
>The one who had earned respect and authority, pondering actions like the best of chess players.<br>The one whose beauty was celebrated in tales and legends all over the known and unknown lands.  
>The one whose voice sounded like the sharpest of swords, or the warmest of embraces, if only she wished so.<br>The one who was the real reason if it existed.  
>The Moirai's prophecy.<p>

.

_Frozen wind from the mountain most high,  
>here on the Underworld will soon pass by.<em>

_._

Blue eyes, dark and deep as the abyss of the Aegean Sea, who could have killed him if he looked for too long. Candid legs crossed in a provoking pose, the slit and fabric of the black dress which left very little to the imagination. One hand holding the chin and the other slowly petting Cerberus' fur. The big guardian dog whined, pleased.

_._

_Frozen wind that has no fears,  
>will leave on its path so many tears.<em>

.

«You're late. I don't like to wait».  
>«Yeah, she doesn't!» Pain and Panic agreed together, but immediately shut each other mouth.<br>No consent, no talk.  
><em><br>._

_Frozen wind that will not stop,  
>of gloom and power it will be atop.<em>

.

Hades didn't reply. He wasn't afraid of her eyes, even if they never looked away while she pulled back her blonde braid with a movement of her head.  
>He didn't reply until he saw the red twinkle in them.<p>

_._

_Frozen wind that cannot rest,  
>many nightmares all night are its guests.<em>

.

«Next time why don't you freeze time, Elsa?»  
>She cocked an eyebrow, then crossed her legs in the other sense. The degrees fell down as quick as a thunder.<br>Or maybe it was just an impression.

_._

_Frozen wind that cannot cry,  
>looks so often at the starry sky.<em>

.

The woman licked her lips, slowly.

_._

_Frozen wind, you'll realize this rhyme:_

.

Then she overturned her head back and laughed. A wicked, satisfied, _evil_ laugh.

_._

_it will be just a matter of time.  
><em>

_._

«I will».

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

.

.

Authors notes:

...then come with us...


	3. μεταμόρφωσις - Transformation

Transformation

Ꮬ

**μεταμόρφωσις**

Ꮬ

_Black is definitely your colour._

* * *

><p>«So, are you gonna just stand there?»<br>Hades smirked.  
>«Oh, the Queen is allowing me to sit?»<br>«Take advantage of it, it doesn't happen often».  
>Hades shook his head and walked towards his throne, releasing a satisfied breath when he finally sat down.<br>«Long day?»  
>«Longer than yours».<br>Elsa laughed between her teeth.  
>Hades evoked a cigar with a movement of his hand and lightened it, taking a deep whiff.<br>Elsa seemed very busy petting one of Cerberus's heads, and the Infernal Hound wagged in pleasure.  
>Hades looked at them, and he praised himself for his self-control that held him from shaking his spine in unease.<br>There it was, the most fierce, and scary beast of the Underworld, the monster that everyone was taught to be scared of since childhood, when mothers threw blankets over their children and whispered _be wary of the guardian of the Underworld and the red eyes on his face, the beauty and grace that hide the worst of cruelty and grimace_.  
>The other was just Cerberus.<p>

At her feet, the Hounds of Tartarus whined, in search of attention. She smiled and murmured something, lowering her other hand and letting one of the dogs lick it.  
>Hades almost laughed at the paradox that was rolling open in front of his eyes: at the beginning, when she was crossing those halls for the first times, she looked like she had lost some pieces of her, some of the pieces that made her complete. But when she had created that throne, much later, he had come to the realization that it was not as it seemed: she wasn't a puzzle that looked for lost pieces in the Underworld. The Underworld was the real puzzle, and she, the Ice Queen, was the piece that had been missing since the beginning.<br>And now, there she was, with those smoky eyes of hers and a glare that should have been decreed as illegal to say the least.

The same smirk she had on when she watched her victims slowly fade away, and die.

_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ___

_Snow.  
>Anywhere that his eyes could wander, snow was a constant. Snow, cold and strong winds.<br>As he dragged himself across the tempest, cause a tempest it was, there were no other words to describe it, he wondered why the hell- ha, irony, his favourite weapon- he had decided to embark himself in such a useless, pointless pursuit.  
>And what was he pursuing, after all? He didn't even know what <strong>exactly <strong>he was looking for. It could have been a menace, a shred to extirpate, maybe even a challenge. And then there was the last option, the one he judged as less probable: it could have been a revelation, a fresh start, something unknown and unnoticed before.  
>He had been prepared, put to guard, and even he himself had prospected what the outcome of all that mess could have been. He deemed himself to be ready for anything that he would have been put in front of.<br>But definitely not **that**._

_The clearing was desert, as everything on the Northern mountains obviously was. Desert, and isolated, and _lonely_.  
>It had taken him a while, to figure out how to proceed, how to orientate himself in what seemed nothing more than the place where all the forgotten cold thoughts gathered and melted into sadness. But he had found a way. After all, wasn't he a God? And Gods never fail.<br>Failure.  
>Like it was something allowed to those of his kind.<br>But the feeling he was experiencing in that moment, that sure seemed like one: his legs **failed**, and his breath **failed**, and he was pretty sure the only thing that wasn't failing in him was the brain, or he wouldn't have realized everything else was.  
>Indeed, that place was of the utmost beauty he had ever seen. Oaks, pines and firs led him to that clear spot, a broad plain surrounded by white trees, whose ivory leafs had stopped waving in the wind many, many time ago. The path his feet had crossed was decorated with the most precious and fine snowflakes, each and every one different from the other. Crystals of frozen water fell in the air, and for a moment he lost himself in the resemblance of that scene, and the one of much, much time before, when a moment had changed his existence, forever.<br>True, there were cherry blossoms trees and petals waving in the air that time, and everything was so warm and bright, but nothing could compare to the reverential silence he was now immersed into, the utmost absence of sound of those instants.  
>Well, until he heard <strong>that<strong>.  
>It started as a faint, muffled sound, like if someone was holding something in front of their mouth to avoid the noise.<br>And then, they all came like a waterfall._

_Hiccups._  
><em>Sighs.<em>  
><em>Tears.<em>

_Standing at the edge of the clearing, he silently watched the scene in front of his tired eyes._  
><em>They had warned him, put him to guard, made him aware of the risks.<em>  
><em>Trouble was, the real danger in that moment seemed to be him.<em>

_She was sitting in the centre of the clearing, curled on a broad rock, her knees held to her chest._  
><em>Her shoulders shook from time to time, revealing the skin of her blades, ivory skin.<em>  
><em>Her hair was blonde, or maybe white, a shade that he couldn't place with enough certainty.<em>  
><em>And she was <em>_crying._

_There, in the centre of a snow covered clearing, there was the most beautiful woman that the God of the Dead had seen in a long, long time, since his memory remembered._  
><em>She looked different from what he had seen in the Moirai's eye, more... <em>_vulnerable than before._

_As he approached her, tilting his head and moving as slowly as he could, he observed her for the very first time: her braid fell like the most beautiful of drapes over her shoulder, and her dress, her cloak, looked like they were not made of something humans could craft. Spiders' web, maybe? Or white gold threads?  
>But as he got nearer and nearer, he realized it.<br>**Ice**.  
>And she looked as beautiful as an ice sculpture, too: she looked fragile, and little, and lost in what she herself had made. Her hands, balled into fists as they encircled her knees, were tiny, and beautiful, and graceful. She looked like an artist, and not like one of his kind at all.<br>«There, there, dear, I think we are overreacting a bit, whatever the matter might be» he finally stated, snapping his fingers in front of her as little red sparkled lighted around them.  
>Then, all of a sudden, she rose her head, and stared right into his irises.<br>And, for a moment, Hades forgot why he was there, or what was his doubt, or whatever he had ever pretended to actually care about.  
>Blue eyes, as the deep waters of the Aegean sea, widened in surprise as she witnessed his presence, crawling back a little, her arms to sustain her behind her back, pressed on the cold surface of the rock.<br>Blue eyes, lost and wandering, painful and relentlessly searching.  
>«Who are you?» her voice was shaking, but he decided not to wonder if it was for surprise or simple fear. He just knew it was the latter.<br>Blue eyes, and red, tormented lips, a face so beautiful that not even the greatest Greek sculptor could have reproduced in all its grace, and emotion, and despair.  
>She couldn't be true. She couldn't be there, as powerful at the fiercest of hawks and as fragile as a redbird with broken wings, so devastated and so <em>beautiful_.  
>But he was there because he had a purpose, and he had to follow his own path, as he had always done.<br>«You may call me with many names, dear, doesn't this-» and he pointed at his flaming hair, his toga and black smoke surrounding his feet «suggest you something?»  
>She simply stared at him, and then avoided his eyes, looking far away, seeing things he could only dare to ignore.<br>«Go away. Please. I don't want to hurt you» a faint whisper, almost inaudible, that he managed to catch anyway.  
>And that was exactly what he needed.<br>Hades huffed, calm and fierce as always, sitting on the rock beside her. She retracted noticeably, but he just decided to avoid the argument for that time.  
>«My dear, I highly doubt you could hurt me as much as you already hurt yourself» he said, snapping his fingers.<br>She jumped lightly at the sight of his red sparks, but didn't run away._

_**Well, that's a start now.**_

_She curled more on herself, the grip on her knees making him wince in pain at the only sight, and closed her eyes.  
>Her beautiful, stunning blue eyes.<br>«Please, leave me alone. **Please**».  
>«I just wanted to know what brings a wonderful being like you up on the Northern Mountains, risking to freeze in the cold air of this clearing, all alone and apparently <em>devastated_. You must be really shattered, my dear, if you're not cheered up by the sight of my magnificent self».  
>A light chuckle behind her little knees.<br>Then, she rose her head again, and he was startled. **Again**.  
>«Who are you?» she asked, this time with a hint of pure curiosity behind the tremble of her lips.<br>He simply bowed, kissing the hand she carefully offered him with the faintest smirk on his sharp teeth.  
>«Hades, God of the Underworld, at your total service».<br>The hand slipped back immediately.  
>«The Underworld?» she hesitated, tilting her head in worry.<br>«Precisely».  
>«So… you are the God of the Dead?»<br>He tilted his head too, nodding quickly.  
>«One of my numerous names, yes, we could say that. Not the most original, indeed».<br>Silence fell again on them, as snow kept slowly covering the ground, the rock, his shoulders.  
>It didn't even <strong>brush <strong>her._

_Then, she finally spoke._  
><em>«...If you came to take me, it won't be much of a bother. I already-»<em>  
><em>«Oh, my dear, not in that way at all» he cut her middle sentence, not letting her finish what she wanted to say. What had she already done? <em>_Died? He excluded that, because she seemed so scared, so shattered, invested in emotions, so **human**._

_She just widened her irises, furrowing her brow._

_«...And then, what do you want?» she eventually questioned, finally letting go of the grip on her knees and starting to brush her arms.  
><strong>She wasn't even wearing gloves.<strong>  
>«Excuse me, but aren't you a bit cold, dear? I mean, I clearly am the <em>hottest_ show around here and I am chilled to the bone anyway, isn't your little lost body freezing inside?»  
>She looked away, huffing. A melancholic, painful sound, the one who hides many secrets, and is not willing to tell one.<br>«The cold never actually bothered me» she simply stated, and he understood.  
>He had always knew, actually. He just needed the slightest of confirms.<br>He turned around, facing the path that had led him there, hands crossed behind his back.  
>«We could say that about me, too. <strong>Death never actually bothered me<strong>. But we all know that we are made of our own fears, dearie, and that would be just a gross, useless lie.»  
>He didn't turn to observe her reaction. He knew what it would have been. And, as expected, he <strong>heard <strong>it. She was holding her breath.  
>«I came because I was wandering around the mountains. There is always, let's say, <em>business_, in these places. But I saw you. And I just had the impression that, maybe, you were one of _us_.»  
>This time, he turned around, facing her. She was still sitting on the rock, arms sustaining her behind her back, and her eyes were fogged with memories.<br>But she gathered the strength to ask one more question.  
>«Who is "us"?»<br>Hades smirked, not hiding his amusement. Then, he widened his arms, laughing briefly.  
>«Bus <strong>us<strong>, of course! The leftovers, the misfits, the toys that no one wants.» he turned serious, again. «We are the ones that are left away and alone, dear, because we are _dangerous_ and unwanted from the others, the _normal and happy and bubbly_ ones. We are the ones who hurt people even if we don't intend to do it, cause it's in our nature, in our own existence. We are the dark spot in the room, the noise under the bed, the misfit toys, the thing that everyone is scared of and yet is attracted by. We are the bad ones. Or, at least, _they_ call us that. We are the ones who comprehend the meaning of loneliness, and loss, the meaning of sacrifice and despair. I thought you were a misfit, too. But, apparently, I was wrong».  
>He turned around for the last time, slowly walking away.<br>He stopped at half of his walk, tilting his head back enough to give her a glimpse of his profile.  
>«...you know, there is always a spot beside me, if you want to come» he whispered, stretching his hand backwards, not looking at it.<br>When nothing came, not even a sound, he shook his head, and started walking again._

_Right at the edge, he stopped._  
><em>She had grabbed his hand, gently and gracefully, standing beside him.<em>  
><em>And she was so little, so fragile, so thin compared to the tall and fierce God, that she could have easily hidden herself in the folds of his toga.<em>  
><em>Pinning her eyes to the ground, she whispered something, but it was so low, so tired that the God didn't catch it.<em>  
><em>«I'm sorry?»<em>  
><em>«..Elsa. My name is Elsa».<em>

_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ___

«Why are you looking at me like that?»  
>Hades blinked, realizing the woman was talking to him.<br>«Nothing» he shrugged, breathing in the air the black smoke of the cigar. «I was just thinking».  
><em>About how beautiful were her eyes<em>.  
>«How funny. I didn't know you could think».<br>She laughed. Pain and Panic did too. The dogs barked.  
>Hades rolled his eyes.<br>Sharp as her ice. As usual.

_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ___

_Elsa never expected to be able to walk in the streets of the Underworld alive – but then, in her life had happened a lot of things she wasn't expecting.  
>She had started to live there, in Hades' Castle. It was as big as her old home, if not even bigger. She could have easily lost herself in the hallways, but the torches always lead her to the Throne Room and then to the exit. The other aisles were less enlightened, or in complete dark – Elsa wasn't sure she wanted to know what there was at the end of them.<br>Hades seemed really interested in her powers. Which didn't make any sense, because they couldn't be useful to him in any way. She didn't ask more than a couple of times – after all, the hours she spent "training", as Hades called her creating ice constructions or knocking down things with icicles, helped her stop wondering about more painful things.  
>Hades let her exploring his kingdom, after that. The souls had started to growing used to her, and they didn't glared at Elsa's not ghastly body so shocked as before. The woman usually walked until the shores of Charon's River and thought that, even if it wasn't the most beautiful place of all, at least it wasn't frozen.<em>

_«Oh, look who's here!»_

_Elsa snorted. Pain and Panic, Hades' little devilish sidekicks, appeared at her sides laughing malicious.  
>«Couldn't you just leave me alone?» she said. «I didn't do anything to you».<br>«You're right» Pain said with a smirk. «We simply like to tease you. You're so weak it's like drinking a glass of water!»  
>«Yeah!» Panic agreed. «You look deader than all the souls around you!»<br>«Why does Hades lose his time with you?»  
>«You're completely useless!»<em>

**_Like she needed to be reminded that._**

_«Just leave me alone!» she snapped, pulling her icy cloak and trying to tear it away from the imps' hands.  
>They were right, after all. She <em>was_ useless. She couldn't even protect the people she loved from the monsters out there, from _her_. Why Hades did lose his time with her, she wondered too.  
>The imps were still scratching her cloak when two dogs, barking, ran towards her. They growled and bit Pain and Panic's tails.<br>«Ouch!» the two whined. «You stupid bags of fleas! Hades will hear about this!»  
>And they disappeared.<br>The Hounds of Tartarus nodded slowly as each other, pleased of their work. Then they started wagging and snuggling against Elsa's legs.  
>Unlike the two imps, the Hounds of Tartarus seemed to like the woman's company very much.<br>She kneeled and started petting them.  
>«Thank you, guys» she smiled. «You're very good boys for being infernal hounds».<br>They barked and licked her face. Elsa laughed a little._

_«Yeah, they're really too much soft hearted»._

_Hades' voice made the two dogs jump. They freed from Elsa's hands and stood at attention, as fierce as they could. The God made sign to them to go away and they obeyed. One of them licked Elsa's hand one last time before running away.  
>«They like you » Hades observed while the woman stood up. «Even Cerberus does. You must have some kind of ability».<br>«Listen, if you're angry with them because of what happened with your imps…»  
>«Oh, come on sweetie, you won't think I actually care about what those two stupid tell me».<br>He walked towards the shore and smirked at his own reflected image.  
>«If Pain and Panic annoy you» he then said, «why don't you just freeze their mouths?»<br>Elsa looked away.  
>«I already told you» she replied. «I don't want to hurt anyone».<br>«That was yesterday. What about today?»  
>«<em>Hades_».  
>«It's just – sweetie, you have a great power. It would be a shame not using it for good».<br>«Hurting isn't good».  
>«Or bad. It depends. For me is good».<br>Elsa didn't replied and the God snorted.  
>«What was that thing you were mumbling in the middle of the storm?» he said. «"Conceal, don't feel"? Well, you should forget it. Try to feel something. Like <em>rage_» he grinned. «Try to be angry. Try to feel the adrenaline in your veins. Try to hate. Try the desire to hurt».  
>«I felt rage once» Elsa murmured. «It was more than enough».<br>She remembered, the adrenaline in her veins when her icicles almost impaled one of those two soldiers. She remembered how _easy_ it could have been. How brief was the distance from life to death, and how much power she had to decide it._

_She didn't want that power again. _

_Hades shook his head. He needed more.  
>Elsa was just like her ice, almost unbreakable. But there had to be something… Some button he could push and break…<br>He noticed it only because Elsa pulled the cloak away from the river's water.  
>There was a paper folded in four bound at the side of her dress.<br>He tilted his head, interested.  
>«What is that?»<br>Elsa turned around.  
>«What is what?»<br>«That paper you have there».  
>Elsa stiffened. Sudden images of red hair and childish laughs and knocks on the door flashed before her eyes, and for a moment everything <strong>hurt<strong>._

_«It's… Nothing»._

_«It's clearly something important if you didn't leave it in your chambers».  
>«Well, I can't leave it in my chambers because your imps use to sneak in all the time!» she snapped.<br>Hades smirked a little.  
>She was getting angry.<br>And he was getting closer to the button.  
>«Can't I see it?» he asked, and moved forward.<br>«No» Elsa said. «It's personal».  
>«Just a peek, come on».<br>He disappeared just to reappear a second after next to her, pushing the cloak aside to grab the paper.  
>«I said <strong>no<strong>!»  
>Hades took a step back.<br>Elsa was looking at him, an animal snarl on her face. One hand was closed around the sheet of paper and the other, stretched forward, had just summoned an icicle and had shot it against the God. An ice patina was extending from her feet, freezing the water closer the shore.  
>«Don't you dare touching it ever again!» Elsa threatened him. «It's Anna's!»<em>

_Anna's?_

_Hades touched his cheek: the wound was already recovering, but he still found blood on his fingers when he looked at them.  
>Elsa blinked and jumped, snapping out of it.<br>«Oh my… Oh my god, I'm sorry» she muttered, her hand shaking. «I lost control… I'm sorry».  
>Again.<br>Again.  
>Again.<br>She was hurting people _again_.  
>For a moment, she desired to run away and lock herself in a room just as she did time ago.<br>_Again_.  
>But Hades didn't look angry at all. He smirked.<br>«That's it!» he exclaimed, triumphant. «That's what I want from you! This anger, this desire to hurt… This is what I need!»  
>Elsa tilted her head. The realization struck her.<br>«You want me to kill people, don't you?» she asked.  
>«If you want to put it that way…»<br>«No. I'm not doing it».  
>Hades crossed his arms.<br>«Well, you were about to do it just a minute ago».  
>Elsa almost hid her hand behind her back.<br>«I was just angry» she murmured. «At you. But I'm not a killer. I'm not a monster».  
>That was the only thing she hoped to never really become.<br>«Oh, innocent sweetheart. You _have_ to be. In this world, there are only Gods» he pointed at himself, «and monsters».  
>The ice patina continued growing.<br>«But what about the ones who aren't gods and monsters neither?»  
>«Those» Hades approached her again, lifting her chin with two fingers, «are the lambs. The victims. The expendable. The weak. And you, Elsa, you don't want to be one of them, am I right?»<br>He let go of her and started walking away.  
>«There has to be something else» Elsa called him. «There has to be someone who isn't a god nor a monster nor a weak. Normal people».<br>«There's nothing such "normal people"» Hades snorted, looking back at her again. «But you're right – there is something else».  
>«What is it?» she asked.<br>Hades grinned, showing his sharp teeth._

_«The dead»._

_He had found the button._

_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ___

The cigar consumed and Hades pondered the idea to evoke a new one, but then resigned and turned to look at Elsa again: the woman was creating little snowballs with her hands, letting the Hounds play cheerfully with them.  
>«You have a soft spot for that dogs, don't you?»<br>«They symbolize power» Elsa shrugged. «They obey their master because they see him as the leader of the pack, as the most important and powerful of all» she winked. «Is not a case they stopped obeying you since I'm here».  
>The three heads of Cerberus barked one after one, nodding, but Hades reserved him such an angry glare that the dog preferred whining and obtaining Elsa's cuddles again.<br>The God remained silent for a while.  
>She was right – even if he would have never admitted it. She was the Queen, now, and he knew that in front of the choice to obey to his or her orders, the most of the being of the Underworld would have chosen her.<br>He stood up.  
>«If you could just leave them alone for a while» he said, «I'd wish to take you somewhere».<p>

_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ___

_The moon had just found its place on the sky, there on the upside world. Elsa knew because she had tried to exit, but then had decided to go back in Hades' kingdom.  
>Down there, at least, she couldn't create unstoppable storms.<br>That was the only consolation she had.  
>Elsa was sitting on a big rock in the garden of the castle – Hades called it that way, but it had nothing but a burned weeping willow and few bushes of dead plants called snapdragons, whose dry flowers had become similar to macabre skulls. Oh, and a tree of pomegranates, but Elsa had the sensation it was better not to try eating them.<br>She took a snapdragon in her hand and sighed._

_Hades wanted her to kill people.  
>How was she supposed to do that?<br>When she was angry, yes, she used to snap. And her powers went out of control. Her powers seemed to have their own life, and they liked killing, liked hurting.  
>But she didn't.<br>And she could list all the reasons to stay away from those thoughts. But only one was the real matter.  
>Elsa brushed her fingers on the paper at her side.<em>

_**She**__ wouldn't have liked it._

_«Admiring the beauty of my garden?»  
>Elsa let go of the flower she was holding when she saw Hades approaching, smirking amused.<br>«It's to __**die**__ for».  
>Elsa preferred not to reply and the God sat down on the rock next to her.<br>«You missed training this morning» he said.  
>«I don't want to take part at your training sessions anymore» she frowned. «I don't want to kill people».<br>«Then why are you still here?»  
>Elsa found herself laughing a little.<br>She didn't know herself. Maybe she was just hiding. Running away from something.  
>Maybe she liked that garden, after all.<br>«Are you kicking me out, Hades?»  
>«If you won't be useful to me anymore, I will».<br>«If I won't be useful to you anymore, wouldn't killing me be a faster way?»  
>That was a good question.<br>Hades had considered it too.  
>But killing Elsa would have been such a shame. Her powers were stunning, they were too important to let them die with her. And then, of course, that was that detail of the wire – wrong, completely wrong. She was too young, too weak. She couldn't be invincible.<br>She was also the first person Hades had talked to in a long, long time. And her eyes, always watching something that wasn't there.  
>He was curious to know what was behind them.<br>«Maybe I will» he replied, and shrugged. «I'm still hoping you'll think about it».  
>«I'm not a murderer. You can't change what I am».<br>Hades cocked an eyebrow.  
>«Try me» he whispered. But Elsa didn't hear him.<br>The God noticed the paper at her side again.  
>«So, I really can't take a look?» he pointed at it.<br>Elsa stiffened. Her hand hastened to cover it.  
>«No» she replied, categorical. «Nor you or anyone else».<br>«But-»  
>«No, Hades, is it really a such hard concept to understand?!»<br>He smirked._

_**Aggressive. Perfect.**_

_«Okay, okay, as you wish» he resigned, raising his hands. «Then let me ask a question».  
>«What is it?» she snorted, brushing her fingers against a second flower.<br>«Who is Anna?»  
>The snapdragon froze.<br>Hades tilted his head and noticed the ice that was expanding from her hand, slowly. Her right leg had started to tremble, as when the muscles are ready to jump and run away. Her eyes were immobile, but he was sure she was seeing a lot behind them.  
>For a moment, he worried. She looked like she had just had an ictus or something like that. After a few seconds, she finally calmed down.<br>«Why do you ask?» she then replied. She was shocked.  
>«You said the paper was hers. I'm curious».<br>«She's my... sister. She's my sister».  
>There was something that desperately tried to hide behind the word "sister", and which in that moment Hades didn't care to discover.<br>«Oh, really?» he cocked an eyebrow. «Tell me about her».  
>«I don't think so» Elsa snarled. «Shut up».<br>«Whoa, __**chill**__» Hades smirked. «I'm just trying to chat». _

_**Defensive. Oh, so perfect.**_

_Elsa considered it. Then sighed.  
>«She's three years younger than me» she said. «She's beautiful. And clumsy. She has red hair. This is all you will know about her».<br>«Where is she now?»  
>Elsa had a sudden realization and turned quickly, a little icicle appearing near the God's foot.<br>«Listen, if you just dare to touch her-»  
>«Hey, hey, no!» he raised his hands. «Who do you think I am? I have almost never done it».<br>And of course he would have never done it now.  
>This wasn't his purpose.<br>This wouldn't have worked as he wanted.  
>Elsa seemed to ponder his reply, then she probably chose to believe it. The icicle disappeared.<br>«So, where is she?» Hades asked again.  
>«Do you think that if I knew I would be here?».<br>«Honestly? Yes, I do».  
>Elsa stirred on the spot. Hades remembered her shaking body in the middle of the storm and grinned.<br>Score.  
>«I don't know where she is» Elsa murmured, looking at the ground. «She's probably still in Arendelle. Safe».<em>

_Sometimes, things happen: a movement is done, a word is said, and nothing is the same anymore._

_«Wait, what? Arendelle?»_

_Elsa turned his head: Hades' expression had completely changed. He looked surprised, embarrassed, guilty in some way._  
><em>Her heartbeat accelerated and she didn't even know why.<em>  
><em>«What?» she asked. «What is it?»<em>  
><em>Hades shook his head, slowly.<em>  
><em>«I knew her name was familiar».<em>  
><em>Elsa's eyes widened. The temperature lowered in a matter of seconds.<em>  
><em>«W-What are you talking about?»<em>

_How could Hades possibly know Anna?_

_If Elsa could have sweated, she would have._  
><em>Hades avoided her look.<em>  
><em>«I think I'll go» he stood up.<em>  
><em>He didn't make more than two steps.<em>  
><em>«Stop!»<em>  
><em>Elsa had stood up, too. An arm stretched in his direction, she had created a wall of icicles that was now blocking Hades' outrush.<em>  
><em>He couldn't help but smirk a little. But he was careful enough to not let her see it.<em>

_**Powerful.**_

_«What are you talking about?» Elsa asked again, firmly. «Do you know Anna? Tell me!»  
>Hades turned around, slowly.<br>«Okay, listen. I met someone named Anna, not so much time ago. She was from Arendelle. She had red hair and was clumsy, as you said. Very clumsy, actually. I-I didn't know she was your sister».  
>Elsa shook her head.<br>«It's not possible» she replied. «You can't have met Anna. There's no way you-»  
>No.<br>There was a way._

_**One single way.**_

_Her pupils narrowed as a pinhead. Hades shivered: it was starting to snow.  
>«No» she just said.<br>«Elsa…»  
>«Don't say that».<br>«Elsa, I met her».  
>No tact. No mincing words.<br>Just the truth, as crude as it was.  
>And just as happened time ago, Elsa broke.<br>Her arm fell along her body, no strength in it. Her legs ceded and Elsa found herself sitting on the rock again._

_She realized it._

_Sometimes in life, there are things that are just like questions. Some nights, or maybe some years pass, and then life answers.  
>But that time, she wished she had never heard the words that Hades said.<br>He spoke, and her heart went deaf._

«She is dead.»

_Anna is dead.  
>Anna is dead.<br>Anna is dead.  
><em>_Again__._

_«No» Elsa said. She was immobile. Her voice was atonic. Her eyes, lost somewhere else. «It's not true. You're making fun of me».  
>She couldn't believe to everyone that said her sister was dead. It had already happened.<em>

_«Sweetie…»_  
><em>«Please» and Elsa rose her head, her eyes were burning and aching to cry. «<strong>Please<strong>, tell me you're joking»._

_She would have probably hugged him if he had started to laugh, and teasing her about how easy she was to break, about how weak she was. But he didn't. He just sighed.  
>«I wish I was. But I'm not. Elsa, I don't know what to say».<em>

_Again__._

_The mind is a very fragile spot of a human being. It has to protect the body and itself. So, when there's something the mind knows it can't stand, a pain it cannot process, it tries to dilute it in emergency exits.  
>First, screams.<em>

_And the scream Elsa made, oh, Hades could literally see the pain exit from her mouth. Elsa fell on the ground, holding her head with the hands, and screamed.  
>The ice covered the garden in a second or two, climbed the trunk of the pomegranates tree. The snow became more dense, it was starting to look like a storm.<br>Hades stepped back.  
>Powerful, indeed, and now he could see, <em>_**scary**__.  
><em>

_When the scream is ended, sometimes the pain is all gone. Sometimes, it's not. It's still poisoning the veins. So, the mind needs another way to canalize it.  
>Tears.<br>_

_Elsa's tears were noisy. They froze during the fallen and they tinkled when dropping on the already frozen ground.  
>Icicles were rising all around, destroying the bushes of snapdragons. Hades gulped.<br>«How?!» Elsa cried. «HOW?!»  
>«Sweetie, I'm not sure…»<br>A row of icicles made him retreat until his back was against the weeping willow's trunk. The foliage of the tree was nothing more but a layer of ice.  
>«<em>_**Tell me!**__» curved icicles were surrounding Elsa too, bending over her as they wanted to protect her.  
>Her power was scary, uncontrolled.<br>But it would have done everything for its master.  
>«Okay. Listen. Listen» Hades gulped, but he had to scream to be heard in the middle of that little powerful storm. He had to scream the be heard over the sound of her pain. «Usually, the souls don't show the cause of their death. They don't have fever or something. They're souls. But some of them… Some of them, when they come here, still have the wounds».<br>Elsa's voice was nothing but a whisper, but it cut the air as it pleased. The tears couldn't fall anymore, as they were frozen on her cheek.  
>«W-Wounds?»<br>Hades hesitated.  
>«She was killed, Elsa».<em>

_But when not even the tears are enough to take away the pain, the mind must hurry. It has to find a place to enclose the pain and discard it little by little. It's not something the mind likes to do, because usually it remains poisoned. It can get sick. Sick but alive, and this is why the mind accepts to do it.  
>When screams and tears aren't enough, there is the last resort.<br>Rage. _

_The snowstorm stopped. It literally froze. There was silence, all around. Hades watched the snowflakes remaining immobile in midair, and he couldn't help to be impressed they had obeyed Elsa's simple movement of standing up.  
>Elsa walked towards him, her step echoing on the frozen ground. The icicles in front of the God disappeared, so the woman could take their place.<br>He thought for a second he could just create a ball of fire and burn everything down, but he realized it wasn't the best idea.  
>Elsa frowned. The frozen tears were still on her cheeks.<br>«Who?»  
>Hades gulped.<br>«I don't kn-»  
>«TELL ME!» and the foliage started moving.<br>Hades could see it in her eyes.  
>Rage. Desire to hurt.<br>«Okay, listen» he took a deep breath. «I don't talk with souls. I just sometimes absently witness at their presentation. But she was really hard not to hear, she talked a lot. And she…» he shook his head. «I should have known since the beginning».  
>«What?» Elsa growled.<br>«She was saying something about… About her death. She didn't say who did it, but… She said that they were searching for her sister. The monster».  
>Elsa didn't move. Nor widened, or gasped. She stayed like that, frozen tears and empty eyes full of rage.<br>«They wanted to kill her sister – you – and they killed her, instead. This is all I know».  
>Silence.<br>Silence.  
>Breathing.<br>Silence._

_Then, steps._

_Without a single word, Elsa left. Hades looked at her disappearing in the direction where the stairs for exit the Underworld were._  
><em>The snowflakes started falling again, slowly, and they melted before reaching the land. The ice melted too, and in a few minutes the garden was free from the cold and white.<em>  
><em>Only the bushes were still destroyed.<em>  
><em>On the ground, the snapdragons looked like decapitated skulls.<em>

__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ____

Elsa raised her head to look at him.  
>«Where?» she asked. She crossed her legs and Hades needed a few seconds before remembering his answer.<br>«I bet you'll like it» he said. «You could call it my… Special place».  
>Elsa cocked an eyebrow, suspicious.<br>«Is that the start of a really dirty pun of yours?»  
>Hades' hair flashed of red and Pain and Panic probably noticed, since they smothered a laugh.<br>«What- No!» he exclaimed. «I don't… Really, there's a place I want to take you at. Do you come with me or not?»  
>Elsa seemed to ponder the offer. She then jumped off the throne – the slit of the dress hastened to follow her movement, but Hades wouldn't have mind if it had been a bit slower – and walked slowly towards the God.<br>«All right. Let's go» she said. «I just hope it will be worth my time».  
>The Hounds whined a little, they probably didn't want to be left alone, and crouched in front of the throne.<br>Hades smirked.  
>«Oh, believe me, time is really something you won't lose, there».<br>He snapped his fingers and the door opened.  
>«After you» the God said. «And as information, I hope you have practiced your dramatic entrances».<p>

_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ___

_When the gates of the Throne Room opened, Hades was calmly smoking his cigar sitting on his own throne. He didn't show any surprise while the door closed with a thud behind Elsa's figure.  
>«Whoa» he said, shaking the cigar in the ashtray next to him. «What happened?»<br>Elsa was breathing. Heavily. They weren't breaths of fear or pain, however. She simply seemed to have run from the entrance of the Underworld until the Throne Room. _

_Her hands were red. Her dress was, too. And she had spots of red even on her face._

_«You're worrying me, dear» Hades stood up, but from the way he was grinning he seemed to already know the answer. «Is that blood yours?»  
>Elsa looked at her hands and her dress. She didn't look scared at all. She directed at Hades a glare of almost indifference and simply replied: «No, of course not».<br>The ease of her tone made Hades smirking as he approached.  
>«I hoped so. Then, what happened?»<br>And Elsa told a strange story. She said that, when she exited the Underworld, she was angry. Angry like she had never been. She said she went to the nearest village and destroyed it. Her storm devoured every last glimmer of life thereabout. She said she impaled men and women on her icicles. She said the snow on the ground was red, after that. And she told all without her voice cracking once.  
>Hades listened and nodded, but he already knew it. He had seen every soul of the village landing on the shores of Charon's River, and they hastened to touch the ground, as they were trying to run away from the fury that had brought them there.<br>«But» Hades said, «I don't understand. You told me you didn't want to kill people».  
>«Well, I changed my mind» she shrugged. Shrugged.<br>The God's sharpened teeth were now clearly visible.  
>«Really. And what <em>exactly_ made you change your mind?»  
>Elsa frowned. Her fingers brushed the paper at her side – one of the few things that weren't dripping blood.<br>«I thought about what you said» she sighed. But she was sighing about what she had lost, not what she had _done_. «I went out there filled with rage. I wanted to kill. To kill the people who were guilty of her death».  
>«And?» Hades inquired.<br>«I realized I couldn't. I don't know who they are. I don't know where they hide» her fist trembled. «And for a moment, I thought I'd be gone insane. For a moment my head hurt so much that I was sure I couldn't have handed it, that the pain would have killed me».  
>She closed her eyes, maybe recalling that agony. Then she smiled, calmly.<br>«But then I calmed down. Because I realized – everyone is guilty of her death, after all. Who didn't kill her didn't do anything to prevent it. And now she's gone. And they are not».  
>Hades didn't argue with her logic. It wouldn't have been convenient or smart for him doing so.<br>«Are you satisfied, now?» he asked.  
>Elsa shook his head.<br>«No».  
>«No?»<br>«Not until every guilt will be dead. Not until she will be avenged. Not until I'll kill the hand who took her life away – and maybe not even then». _

_When the most beautiful flower of the garden is taken away, the weeds should be uprooted too. They aren't useful anymore. _

_Elsa looked at Hades in search of consent. In her eyes shone a twinkle of madness, a very lucid madness.  
>Because if it wants to survive the pain, the mind has to poison itself with the rage. It has to change. There is no other way. It will be alive but ill for a while, or maybe forever, but it <strong>will be<strong> alive, and that's the only thing that matters. _

_«So you decided to become a monster, then» Hades smirked.  
>Elsa frowned, she seemed confused.<br>«Monster? I'm not a monster».  
>The God lost his assuredness for a second, and widened. But then Elsa smiled, she imitated his usual smile and so her lips curved into a wicked grin.<br>«I am **The **Monster. The one they asked for. The one they'll have».  
>Hades blinked, surprised. He laughed, his flames flashing on his head.<br>«That's great, sweetie!» he exclaimed, enthusiastic. «That's exactly what I wanted to hear! So you'll continue the training, then».  
>Elsa cocked an eyebrow.<br>«Training?»  
>She overturned her head and laughed. And it was a laugh so full of evilness, of wicked rage, that Hades remained impressed.<br>«I don't need any training».  
>She was so fast the God couldn't help but jump. The woman stretched her arm forward and shot her powers in the room: ice and snow appeared and mixed together, and after a few seconds next to Hades' throne there was another. A beautiful throne made of ice, regal and glorious.<br>Pain and Panic, that were in the room too, gulped.  
>«The little weak isn't so useless anymore…» Pain whispered.<br>Elsa overheard him, her eyes twinkled. She pointed two fingers in her direction and shot a couple of little icicles, pinning their tails to the ground. They screamed.  
>«You better not tease me or call me weak, now» she affirmed, imperious. «From now on, I am your <strong>Queen<strong>. Is that clear?»  
>«Yes, of course, we're sorry, of course Your Majesty!» the imps stuttered, bowing awkwardly.<br>Elsa turned towards Hades and smiled, fluttering her eyelashes – and the God wondered _where in world_ had she learned to do that and _why_ didn't she do that before.  
>«You don't mind, do you?»<br>Hades raised his hands.  
>«Of course not» he replied. «But I <em>do_ mind about your wardrobe. The Queen of the Underworld should not wear things so… Bright».  
>A snap of his fingers, and the cigar's ashes in the ashtray started to float. Hades created a gentle gust of wind to make them approach and those ashes all over the woman.<br>«Hey!» Elsa complained. «What are you doing, stop!»  
>«Shh» the God whispered. «Trust me».<br>And Elsa decided to.  
>She quickly realized the ashes were sticking to her ice dress, one by one. In less than a minute, her blue – and red – dress had become black, cloak included.<br>Hades grinned. He took gently her hand and admired her while she twirled on herself.  
>«Oh, my darling» he smiled. «Black is definitely your colour».<em>

__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ_ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ__ᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜᏜ____

«Hey, Scar! Hand me another drink!»  
>«I think you're drunk enough for tonight, Hook».<br>«Maleficent, take that raven away from me!»  
>«I thought you loved birds, Jafar».<br>«Ursula, I've already told you, I'm not going to play arm wrestling with you again».  
>«Oh, come on, Cruella. I'll use my worst tentacle, okay?»<p>

The atmosphere in the (D)Evil's Tavern – in original the name was simply "Evil's Tavern", but the D had been added time ago for some kind of motivation and there had remained – was just the same as every other night.  
>In the dark that always filled the place – only few candles enlightened the darkness, enough to see each other in the face if sitting in front – the diners were drinking and laughing, trying to find something similar to an appearance of a friendship and to forget about their problems.<p>

They were the misfits.  
>The leftovers.<br>The broken toys.  
>They were the villains, as someone used to call them.<br>It was a night just as all the others in the (D)Evil's Tavern, until the door opened and the magic candle Jafar had brought from Agrabah lighted up at the movement, illuminating the new visitor.  
>All the eyes pointed at the gateway.<p>

The silence can be as noisy as an explosion when it falls all of sudden, heavy like a brick wall.

Ursula crushed Cruella's arm with her tentacle.

Hook almost stabbed his good hand with the hamate one.

Maleficent nearly fell down the chair.

Scar dropped a glass – he _never_ dropped a glass.

Jafar blinked a few times and then commented, between his teeth: «Holy magic lamps».

The Queen of Hearts' jaw fell and she confused her words, murmuring : «Off with _my_ head».

Fallen glasses, senseless whispers, and surprised glares filled the tavern, dozens and dozens of diners looking at one single person.  
>Hades stood there, arms crossing, leaned against the door the keep it opened. He was grinning, amused by all the reactions – even better of what he had hoped.<br>The blonde woman made a few steps inside.

Stomp.

Stomp.

Stomp.

The noise of her hills on the wooden floor echoed in the room.

Elsa put her hands on her hips and cocked an eyebrow, looking around with superiority. She turned to face Hades and slowly smirked.

«Tell me about dramatic entrances».

* * *

><p>.<p>

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Authors' notes.

Ser: Hi guys! Here's Ser. We finally meet for good. I'm writing the notes because Hil's not here now, but she'll probably add something when she can.  
>Anyway! We want to thank everyone for the fantastic reviews, we didn't expect this! Thank you very much. We promise this story will be worth your hopes. And to answer at the question 'who wrote what', actually every chapter will be written both from me and Hil. Sometimes more Hil and less me or vice versa, but you got the concept. Good luck distinguish the two writing stiles!<br>This story will update every Friday. Is something we really want to respect. If we don't update until Friday's midnight, we are dead. Pretty simple.

...Uh... I don't know what to say. Hil will add something. We really hope you're liking it and I swear, this story has a lot to tell. It's worth the wait.  
>(It's Hil's idea, after all. It's great).<br>Thank you again! See you next week!  
>Ser.<p> 


	4. ζενίθ - Zenith

Zenith

**_Ꭳ_**

**_ζενίθ_**

**_Ꭳ_**

_Only those of our kind can go hunting for the biggest preys._

* * *

><p>There are different types of silence: the silence of the night, the silence of the loneliness, the silence of an empty street, of an abandoned house, of mornings on the beach. Silence filled with sounds, but no words.<p>

And then there's the silence of the surprise. That is the kind of silence were even the nature, the _air_, stops making sounds. The one where you are scared to move, to _breathe_, because breaking the silence would mean that you have something to say – and you haven't.

That's why no one in the (D)Evil's Tavern said anything after Elsa's first words. They didn't move. They remained immobile and glared at her, the beautiful woman that was standing fierce and regal next to the door. The magic candle on the gateway dimly enlightened the whole tavern, and Elsa could see almost every diner's shocked face.

_It had been years since the last new visitor._

«What a welcome» she smirked. She then walked, cutting darkness and silence, the heels rhythmically knocking on the floor.  
>She stopped only when she reached the counter. She sat down on one of the chairs, – not so far away from Maleficent, that was sweating – crossed her legs and looked at Scar. He didn't move.<p>

«Do you have something to drink?»

The attention was now focused on the bartender of the tavern. Scar was a singular man, strange tattoos all over his body, – they looked like scratches and claws marks – long black hair, bushy but short beard and, of course, a scar along his left eye. He had something _feline_, Elsa thought.  
>Everyone waited for his response. Scar had <em>always<em> something do drink: he had the perfect drink for every single costumer.  
>If he had something for her, too, then she was meant to stay there.<p>

Scar eyed at Elsa for a while, maybe studying her, maybe trying to recover from the initial shock. He eventually nodded and turned around.

«Would a White Lady be okay?»  
>«Perfect».<p>

He had found the drink.  
>A general sigh of relief left the bystanders' mouth, and sounds started slowly to reappear: at least, the new woman was one of them.<br>The magic candle turned off, sign the Hades had moved from the door and it had closed. The God approached the woman and turned at the others.

«Guys, this is Elsa» he said, and the blonde realized he was very confidential, so he had probably been a customer of that place for a long time. «She lives in the Underworld with me and she is… Well, just like _us_. So try to be friendly, 'kay?»  
>No replies. He shrugged.<br>«Silence is consent».

He sat down on the chair next to Elsa and waited for the others to slowly start talking again.  
>«You really did an impression».<br>«You doubted it?» the woman grinned. «I like this place».  
>«So I was right?»<br>«You were not wrong».  
>Hades laughed between his teeth. He noticed Maleficent's still shocked glare direct to Elsa, but didn't care.<br>«I hope the dark doesn't disturb you» he said.  
>«Of course not. Sometimes» and for a moment Elsa hesitated, but it lasted a blink of eyes, «darkness is just <em>better<em>».

Scar returned and placed a glass in front of the woman. He interrupted Hades before he could even talk.  
>«A Margarita de Fuego, Hades, I know».<br>«That's why I like you, Scar».  
>Elsa cocked an eyebrow as the other walked away.<p>

«A Margarita de Fuego? Really?» she smirked.  
>«What?»<br>«I couldn't expect anything else from you».

**_ᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣ  
><em>**

_Toc-toc.  
>«Elsa?»<em>

_A little, tiny voice, almost inaudible through the thick wood of the closed door._  
><em>She opened one eye, not like she was asleep anyway, and slowly turned her head towards the entrance of her room.<em>  
><em>Her first thought was directed to her fervent imagination, that maybe tried to compensate years of closed doors, unspoken words and missed moments.<em>  
><em>She just shrugged, blaming her own ghosts, and closed her eyes again, shifting her position a bit and hoping to finally fall asleep.<em>  
><em>It had been hard, she reckoned, to pretend that normality was just a glance away, after all that had happened, after her runaway, the Great Thaw, after the events that shook them all inside like tiny earthquakes.<em>  
><em>It had been a while. A long while. And she still couldn't get some proper night of sleep without waking up, terrified by nightmares, by well known ghosts and painful doubts.<em>  
><em>In the mornings, and during the day, everything seemed perfect, that kind of crystallized perfection where nothing seemed to possibly be going wrong: she would hear the cheerful singing of her sister, waking up even the birds in the garden, and anticipate the moment when Anna would have forgotten that almost invisible step of the staircase, risking to miss it and turn into a red and green tornado rolling down to the kitchens. But Elsa would always be there, opening the door in the moment right before the doomed downfall, grabbing her sister by the hem of her dress and saving her from a really awkward explanation to the patient soul of Gerda. They would have breakfast, and Anna would stuff in her mouth every single thing that at least <em>_seemed to contain chocolate. She would have offered Elsa half of her new conquer, but the older one would always deny, and just keep listening to Anna's stories and ramblings, one hand under her chin, observing the redhead with the gentlest, warmest eyes of this world._

_Truth was, she felt like she had missed _too much_, in those years. Anna's first falling tooth. Her first dance. Her first _real_ bike. Her first womanly dress.  
>She had missed those slow transitions, those that she could see reflected in her mirror. She had missed Anna's features changing, her slow transformation from chubby toddler, to dry and risky preteen, to joyful young girl and, finally, to a wonderful, gorgeous woman.<em>_  
>A woman that each morning would eat the equivalent of ten tons of cocoa and paint half her face in chocolate and milk, of course, but still the most wonderful woman that could have ever existed.<br>She had _missed_ them.__  
>Each and every Anna's first.<br>And so, even if at least in those warm, relaxed minutes dedicated to breakfast, she wanted to listen to the redhead, to her first thoughts of the day, her first words for a sunny and __cheerful morning.  
>She wanted to stop <em>missing_, and be there whenever it was possible and even impossible.  
>To be Anna's first.<br>Her, and chocolate._

_The late morning would see Elsa busy with paperwork, and Anna involved in multiple courtesy or history lessons, lessons that she systematically managed to skip just to have a peek of her busy, responsible sister proof reading a document for the hundredth time in an hour._

_The afternoons were almost the same, with them sharing a walk in the gardens or, sometimes, brief trips to the village, a thing that Anna insisted bringing on and that made the redhead utterly happy. And, to Elsa, Anna's happiness was all that truly mattered.  
>They were happy, light moments, moments when worries and regrets and <em>pain_ seemed like faint blurred notes at the end of their long, precious book of shared adventures.  
>But the night was the true moment of the day, the moment when the doors of each room closed and Elsa would find herself alone, standing in the moonlight, carefully brushing her gloves on the top drawer, letting herself fall under the covers of her bed.<br>Those were the moments when her eyes got to close, but weren't followed by her mind. The hours when her head would overthink, imagine and be chained in fear, _all over again_.  
>What if it didn't turn out well?<br>What if the redhead got tired of that situation, of _Elsa_?  
>What if she just <em>left_?  
>What if Anna got hurt again <em>because of her_?_

_They wouldn't have been in that dreadful situation, if it wasn't for her._  
><em>It was her fault.<em>

_It had always been._

_Toc-toc._  
><em>«Elsa? Are you awake?»<em>  
><em>Toc-toc.<em>  
><em>«...Elsa, please.»<em>

_That voice. Again._  
><em>It took her some seconds to realize she hadn't imagined that, and not even one to rush to the door and carefully open it.<em>  
><em>And there she was.<em>  
><em>Anna, wrapped up in a blanket, shoulders slouched to her knees and arms encircling them.<em>  
><em>She was sitting on the floor, not like she had been waiting for the door to actually open.<em>

_It usually didn't, in all those past years._

_Elsa wanted to tell her something, anything, actually, anything, going from "Why are you on the floor at two in the night?" to "Why didn't you just open the door?" to "I am so sorry and I love you and this is all my fault"._

_But neither came out, partly because her heart was humming so much that it filled her ears with its paced rhythm, but mostly because right when she had opened her lips she had been crushed in a blanketed hug, and now Anna was holding her so tight that she almost couldn't breathe, and the redhead's face was buried in the curve of her neck, and her breath was tickling her exposed skin, and nothing mattered anymore._

_Until she noticed it._  
><em>Anna was crying.<em>

_Elsa immediately responded to the embrace, nudging Anna even closer, if that was even possible, and then just naturally, unconsciously began stroking the redhead's hair, rocking both of them back and forth a bit, and whispering reassuring tones in Anna's ear._

_«Shh, it's all okay, it's okay»._  
><em>She almost wanted to laugh at her naive statement: everything was all but okay, and she perfectly knew it. Plus, she still didn't even know what had pushed Anna to come by her door so late into the night, and she desperately wanted to, but Anna obviously wasn't willing to talk or explain now. She looked like a person who needed someone to whisper her reassuring things at two in the morning. And Elsa wanted to be that someone.<em>

_«Shh, don't cry. It's okay. It's okay. I'm here.» she whispered, before Anna hiccuped once more, at which Elsa simply broke the hug and stared at her sister's puzzled face for some instants._  
><em>Then, Anna finally spoke, but it wasn't the explanation Elsa so longed to hear. It was a desperate plead.<em>  
><em>«Say you're never gonna leave me.»<em>  
><em>Hearing those words, Elsa shook her head in disbelief.<em>  
><em>«Anna, what happened?»<em>  
><em>But the younger girl just wasn't willing to lose herself in explanations.<em>  
><em>«Elsa, please, tell me you'll never leave me» it was a desperate cry, a request of help, and Elsa just crashed under the weight of that scene.<em>  
><em>They both kneeled to the floor, still tangled in their hug, with Elsa kissing away each and every tear she could catch, kissing Anna's eyes, nose, cheeks, even her ears, like if she could kiss the pain away too, like when they were little and bruises were a daily routine for them.<em>  
><em>In those days, Anna would often fall from her new bike, or lose recognition of her in her dangerous adventures, ending up with scratches and paper cuts here and there. No matter what medicament or remedy she could take, she would keep crying and wailing until Elsa wouldn't come and kiss the pain away, like if she was the owner of their secret magic spell, the one who could turn pain into laughter and vegetables into chocolate.<em>  
><em>And now there she was, kissing Anna's whole face, muttering words between one kiss and another.<em>  
><em>«I»<em>  
><em>Kiss on the ear.<em>  
><em>«will»<em>  
><em>Kiss on the cheek.<em>  
><em>«never»<em>  
><em>Kiss on the eyes.<em>  
><em>«ever»<em>  
><em>Kiss on the nose.<em>  
><em>«leave you.»<em>  
><em>(Again).<em>  
><em>Kiss on the forehead.<em>

_They stared at each other, kneeled on the floor in front of the crack open door, moonlight shining through the windows, and Anna just curled up in her blanket even more._  
><em>Elsa just shook her head, huffing. The redhead wasn't crying anymore.<em>  
><em>«Now, will you please tell me what happened? Did someone scare you? Did they annoy you? I will take personal care of them, I promise.» Elsa almost trembled in anger at the only thought, already making a mental list of the measures she would have to take. No one was allowed to hurt Anna. No one.<em>

_She had done that too many times already in the first place._

_But Anna shook her head, whispering something that the older girl didn't manage to catch.  
>«Sorry, I didn't hear that.»<br>Anna just sank in her shoulders, radiating shame and embarrassment from every angle.  
>«...Idntmare.»<br>_«Anna.»_  
>«...I-I had a ni-nightmare.»<br>It took a while for Elsa to register the meaning of Anna's sentence.  
>A nightmare.<br>Anna had just had a nightmare.  
>And the first thing that had come to her mind was to crawl in front of her door, wrapped up in a blanket, and cry herself to sleep in front of that horrible, cold white wood.<br>To search for Elsa.  
>«...E-Elsa? C-can I sleep with y-you? Just for to-tonight?»<em>

_The redhead hoped to see even the littlest sparkle of understanding on her sister's face, but it didn't come: Elsa just stood there, frozen in place, eyes pointed on something above her head and slow, cold breaths coming out of her slightly parted lips. She was gorgeous, even in the dim light of two in the night, with her hair slightly messed up and the usual, ever-so-present braid falling on her shoulder, covered by a light white robe, naked shoulders rising and falling with the beatings of her heart, that Anna could feel cause they were so close, as they had never been in all those messed up years. Maybe she was angry with her now, for waking her up with such a pathetic excuse. Maybe she would have just replied her to suck it up and leave her to sleep, for the kingdom's sake. Or maybe, since it was her Elsa in front of her, the one that Anna and Anna only had the privilege to see, the gorgeous, kind and warm girl that was still afraid of her falling down the stairs, just maybe, she would have smiled and comforted her a bit, in reminding of the old, bright days they once had. Anna was expecting some kind of reaction._

_But surely not that._

_Elsa barely shook her head, pressing her lips together, and tried to repress a hiccup, crushing her in the tightest hug she had ever received._

_Anna._  
><em>Her Anna.<em>  
><em>She couldn't help but crying, hiding her tears under closed eyelids, Anna nudging into her and clenching the fabric of her light robe.<br>«I-I'm so sorry I ma-made you cry, E-Elsa, ple-please, stop.»  
>She said, whispering, almost as if it was a secret between them, that the great Elsa, <em>her Elsa_, her hero was kneeled on an old mint scented carpet, crying on her shoulder and letting light chuckles escape every now and then.  
>But then Elsa broke the embrace, and rose both of them up on their feet again, running her thumb across Anna's still wet cheek.<br>She was smiling, her head tilted to the side and eyes covered in icy droplets.  
>«Shut up and come to sleep, feisty pants» she finally muttered, closing the door behind them, never letting the other go.<em>

_An hour and many quiet laughs later, they were still awake, telling each other anecdotes of the past lost years, backs resting on the bed pillows, legs sprawled under the soft covers, the blanket covering them both.  
><em>_«Oh, and one time Gerda caught me stealing chocolate from the kitchens, but I ran away so fast that she didn't see me until the following day.»  
><em>_A light chuckle.  
><em>_«That is _so_ you».  
><em>_«I know! But _chocolate,_ Elsa!».  
><em>_Anna waved her hands in the air as she spoke, the blanket shifting with her, bangs messily defying every physics law and eyes glimmering in excitement, and laughter, and _passion_, and Elsa just stared at her. Whatever was the argument, Anna always spoke with the utmost dedication and attention, losing herself in her speeches, missing the logic trail and ending up on a totally different topic from the one she had begun with. But anything she felt like discussing, Elsa would always be there, concentrated and wrapped up in her words, nodding and listening in silence, simply enjoying herself with the wonderful person that Anna was, and had always been.  
><em>_«...and then she just said "Stop painting the pieces of armour!" and I had to drop my brush to go hide under a tapestry. But I wasn't much of a hide-and-seek expert, so I guess my jumping feet were a one of a kind signal, and I was immediately caught.»  
><em>_«What a great mischief criminal you were» Elsa replied, not succeeding in stopping a yawn to exit her lips, a tired sound that Anna didn't miss.  
><em>_«Oh my, was I rambling? Oh, I was totally rambling, ohmygosh I am so sorry and so awkward probably now you are asking yourself why in the first place wasn't I born with a mute button or something and You surely just want to sleep and I am _so_ idiotic gosh Elsa I totally understand if yo-»  
><em>_«Anna, it's okay, I am just a bit sleepy» came the answer, and Elsa just closed her eyes, resting her head against the wood of the bedside.  
><em>_She wished she could simply fall asleep, there, near Anna, hearing her rambling under a warm blanket, sitting on the floor like when they were little.  
><em>_But apparently Anna wasn't of the same opinion, because she promptly took the covers in her hands and pulled them up to her chin, resting her head on the pillow, red strokes scattered on blue silk, like the last rays of sun dying in the ocean.  
><em>_«...then I guess it's time to go to bed.»_

_When she didn't feel Elsa's all-particular warmth next to her, she crack opened her eyelids again, just to see Elsa staring at the window, the long heavy drapes, and the foggy glasses of that winter night. It was snowing, and for once it was not her fault, but just a natural event, a light white rain falling down on them and on the world, making everything less sharp, less hard, less painful.  
>Elsa wandered with her eyes through the room, brushing the dark drawers, her desk, the snowflake patterns that had conquered the walls' tapestries, the carpets. It was all soaked in darkness, and she could only see the borders, the rims and edges of what had been her entire world for many, many years.<em>_  
>But darkness made it all seem less painful, just like snow. Maybe dark and cold where made for each other, in the end.<br>And she mentally thanked the darkness, where everything was blurred, where the two of them didn't have to set any label or definition to what linked them so deeply. Because it was true, that the edges of what her and Anna had were blurred, _too_ blurred, and they hurt even during the day, even in those light soaked moments. But the dark was their friend, a silent and condescending stranger that made everything less difficult.__  
>She remembered the fear Anna had of darkness, and that made her mouth speak almost automatically.<br>«Do you want me to light the chandeliers?» she asked in a whisper, but Anna shook her head, stifling a yawn, and held her hand close to her face, lacing their fingers together.  
>«I'll never be afraid, as long as I'll be next to you» she simply stated, and closed her eyes.<br>Right when Elsa thought she had fallen asleep, Anna asked her one more thing. The last one.  
>«...Elsa? Do you remember the ice magic you used to do when we were little and I was afraid?»<br>Elsa nodded, not capable of pronouncing a sensate sentence anymore.  
>«Could you do it once again?»<br>She just twirled her hands, and tiny, transparent snowflakes started to fall all around the room, two white figures ice skating hand in hand in the air.  
>Elsa lowered her head on the pillow, closing her eyes, feeling the redhead's breath tickling her nose, and started to slowly drift into sleep, but a doubt stroke her relentless mind again.<br>«Anna?»  
>«Mmh?»<br>Anna's eyes remained closed, but she nudged more into Elsa, grasping her hand and letting her free fingers linger on her collarbones.  
>«I'm never <em>ever_ gonna leave you again. That's a _promise_.»  
>«Pinky finger?»<br>Elsa chuckled a bit, before planting a light kiss on the younger girl's forehead.  
>«Pinky finger.»<br>So they closed their eyes, limbs and hair entangled like their lives had always been, fingers intertwined and a light, almost unnoticeable smile on their lips._

_«...Elsa?»_  
><em>«Yes, Anna?»<em>  
><em>«I love you.»<em>

_«...Anna?»_  
><em>«Yes?»<em>  
><em>«You are the worst hide-and-seek player of all times-»<em>  
><em>«Elsa!»<em>  
><em>«-but I love you anyway.»<em>

_«...Elsa?»_  
><em>«...yes?!»<em>  
><em>«Goodnight.»<em>  
><em>«...Goodnight, Anna.»<em>

_**_ᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣ_**_

Hades was sure that, after her dramatic entrance, the other customers would have been too shocked to approach Elsa, so when Scar had started a calm conversation with her he had been visibly relieved. He got up and moved away, following the brief light of the candles.

Not so far away from the counter he found Ursula, Maleficent and Hook. They were sitting as the same table, chatting about a subject Hades could easily guess – the beautiful blonde woman he had taken there, of course.  
>They were a part of what Hades used to call The Company, the group he preferred hang out with. Just some members, however – but misfits, or villains if you prefer, are elusive by nature.<p>

Ursula and Maleficent were confabulating very close to each other. Hook seemed more interested on the empty glass he was turning in his hand, but was the first to notice Hades' presence.  
>«Look who has ascended between mortals!»<p>

The women stopped talking as the God approached, rolling his eyes. He decided to ignore the two empty seats and leaned against the nearby wall, instead.  
>«You know, Hook, I can't remember the last time I have seen you sober» he said.<br>«It's like asking to see an ocean that isn't wet» Ursula grinned. Maleficent laughed.  
>Hook mumbled something incomprehensible and slammed the empty glass on the table, squashing his hat.<br>«So, who is the woman you brought here?»  
>Hades rolled his eyes.<br>«You probably had rum in the ears, too» he teased. «Her name is Elsa».  
>«Yeah, yeah, I got that» the pirate replied, and maybe was true. «But who is she <em>really<em>? I mean, a hot chick like that wouldn't just hang around with the God of the Dead».  
>Hades sensed where the conversation was about to land and looked at the counter, finding that Elsa and Scar had stopped talking. The woman was turned around, but he was sure they had now her complete attention.<br>Which could have been a problem if Hook didn't shut his mouth.

«You know, I'm not gonna answer that» he said, crossing his arms. «You're too drunk».  
>«I have been drunker» Hook laughed, Ursula and Maleficent nodded at each other with awareness. «Come on, where did you find such a beautiful doll? I bet she can play a lot of fun games. Couldn't I take part at some of them?»<p>

Hades knew he was doomed even before the wind threw open the windows.

It came from nowhere and opened the windows with a bang, invading the tavern and making everyone shiver. It flew between the diners, hissing in their ears, approached the candles without extinguish them and howled at Elsa's feet as it was bowing, waiting for orders.  
>Scar stepped back and realized that all the drink he was preparing had suddenly frozen. Others would have complained it, but nobody dared to talk.<br>The silence of surprise had fallen again.

Elsa jumped down from the chair and walked slowly toward the table, the wind following her and surrounding Hook, just as the snake surrounds his pray before devouring it. The pirate shivered, but in his drunkenness he didn't erase his grin.  
>Elsa stopped in front of him, one hand on her hip and the other holding the second glass of White Lady. She was the perfect combination of sexuality and <em>terror<em>, Hades thought. He created a little flame on his palm in the attempt of warming his hands.  
>The blonde looked Hook up and down.<br>«When you badmouth about me» she hissed, «I'd like to be present».  
>Ursula and Maleficent stepped back with their chairs. Hook laughed.<br>«You're a touchy one, lass!» he exclaimed. «I was just stating a fact. You are basically Hades' toy, aren't you?»  
>The God looked away, as he wanted nothing to do with the pirate's fate.<br>Elsa's eyes narrowed. She raised the hand that wasn't holding the drink, slowly, and then firmly closed her fist.

Hook's scream covered the howl of the wind.

Ursula first had the courage to look, and gasped: Hook's arm – the one that still had the hand – was freezing down. Ice started from his fingers to cover the whole arm and stop on the shoulder.  
>Slowly. Very slowly.<br>The pirate's screams lowered as the sensibility disappeared, and he looked at the block of ice that was his arm, painting heavily. Elsa, in front of him, smiled satisfied.  
>«You know, I could just rip it off and you wouldn't even feel pain» she grinned. «<em>At first<em>».  
>She slammed her drink on the table and faced him, fire in her eyes.<br>«Don't you ever, _ever_ disrespect me again» she snarled. «I'm nobody's toy. And don't you dare calling me "chick" or "woman" or "lass" if you want to keep your only hand. My name is _Elsa._» And the wind howled stronger, hailing her and carrying the echo of her words in all the tavern. «I am the Ice Queen. The Queen of the Underworld. The new fear of the humans – and of whoever hinders my way. _Am I clear?_»

Hook hastened to nod. Elsa remained immobile for a while, maybe studying him, and then finally smirked.  
>The wind rapidly calmed and left the tavern, gentler gusts closed the windows again. The drinks returned liquid. And, eventually, the ice on Hook's arm thawed, leaving it trembling and wet.<br>Hades sighed with relief – he had feared worse.  
>Elsa enjoyed the sight of the pirate's terrified look for a while and was about to walk away when Maleficent stopped her.<br>«Finally someone actually capable of something, here».  
>The blonde smirked.<br>«Oh, you have no idea of what I'm truly capable of. It'd scare you».  
>Ursula and Maleficent shared a smile, and then the first one pointed at one of the three empty seats – Elsa thought to had seen only two of them before, but she didn't actually care – with one tentacle.<br>«Try us».  
>Elsa cocked an eyebrow, undecided. But then Hades moved and sat down himself, waving her to do the same, so she smiled and sat next to him.<br>The Company had just gained another member.

**_ᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣ_**

«So I was right, you liked my little dark place.» Hades huffed, lighting himself a cigar and adjusting his position on the throne.  
>«Well, I can't say I hated it, not completely, at least.» she replied, crossing her legs in that almost <em>illegal<em> way.  
>They had headed back to the Underworld, after Scar had decreed that the drinks served that night had been way more than enough.<br>Truth was, if asked, that Hades wouldn't have left his favourite table for any price, in all those hours: it had all begun with a White lady and icy glares, just to end with random outbursts of laughter at Hook's pirate jokes, and interested comments to the Ice Queen's speeches, curious questions, shared experiences and backstories.  
>He smirked, remembering the expression on Ursula's face when Elsa had twirled a finger in the air, adding more ice to the Sea Witch's glass before she could ask Scar for some. An amused smile.<br>_Priceless_.  
>That was the word: priceless. That was what could describe the just past night.<br>It was like when you have a new idea, and you are a bit scared of presenting it to other people, because you hold it so dear to your heart that only the thought of seeing it being underestimated makes you shiver. But in the end you show it up to the ones you love, and if they appreciate it, then it's one of the best feeling in the world.  
>That was how he felt a few hours before, even as the Tavern's door opened and she walked in the utmost silence, when he feigned the most solid confidence while his fingers were slightly trembling in expectation, in <em>hope<em>.  
><em>Beokaybeokaybeokay,<em> he had thought.  
>And then, when he had at last seen her laughing, and sipping her drink, and throwing innuendos to her new company, only then his chest felt light again, when he had seen her being <em>happy<em>.  
>Or, at least, not in the usual <em>I'm-gonna-murder-anyone-I-see<em> mood.  
>That night she had smiled, huffed and even joked with the pirate she had threatened to kill just a little before, like if she had finally realized who he was, what he symbolized, her eyes getting dark with obscure thoughts and remorse only a few times, and not every five seconds as they usually did.<p>

«Do you think you'll go there again?» he asked, pretending to be just curious, almost bored by his own cigar smoking routine.  
>Elsa smirked, one hand holding up her chin, legs crossed, and leaned left, towards his throne, her little nose curled up in amusement.<br>«So the almighty Hades, God of the Underworld, Owner of souls, King of the dead and Wishing-to-be-king of my bedroom is giving me the unique opportunity to choose what I have already decided? How generous.»  
>«You know dear, they say only the ones who have a lot to hide like to build up walls of irony and sarcasm, to masquerade their own self pity and cluelessness.» he hastily replied, carefully avoiding a discussion over the last title she had gifted him of. Man, wasn't it getting <em>horribly hot<em> in there?  
>She shook her head, chuckling a bit while she directed her eyes to the wide open windows again, her bangs falling hopelessly in front of her eyes. She blew some up again, but they promptly returned in place, tickling her cheeks and nose.<br>Hades almost laughed, but didn't, distracted by her next outcome.  
>«Why did you take me there, actually?»<p>

There it was.

The question he had been waiting for since the Underworld gates had opened for them.

The little spark that would have started the great fire.

His golden eyes glimmered at the light of the cigar, narrowed by his wide, devilish grin.

«Oh, so eventually 'why', 'how' and all their friends are back in town.»

And there it was. The calm, peaceful atmosphere of moments before cracked like a frozen glass, shards of cold ruining its mock of perfect surface, unravelling all their contrasts, the unspoken words that threatened to make their little window blow up with all their castle of cards.  
>Blown away by a sentence.<br>Or, maybe, just by the icy wind that entered the windows, shards of cold hitting his skin like a thousand needles, turning off almost every torch in the Throne Hall.  
>She didn't even blink, piercing her eyes into his yellow irises. He could swear that blue was the most burning colour he had even witnessed, at least that woman's shade of blue. She could burn a hole in his chest with just a look, if she wanted, considering the determination and decision that crossed those empty yet lively circles of turmoil waves.<br>«I am not playing around» she whispered, but she was so near to his face that he could hear her sharp voice perfectly. «I asked _why_».  
>She balled her right fist, and the last torches went off, only the outside light of bonfires lighting the room. In that faint shadow, her slender and slim figure looked even more menacing.<p>

But he was expecting that, and he grinned, tilting his head so that he could see her through the icicle now pointed to his forehead.  
>«There, there, I admit I like a bit of intimacy, but you can come to me whenever you want, dearie, I didn't know you preferred darkness so much.»<br>She didn't blink, but her felt her gaze had averted for a few instants, maybe lost in another time, another life. However, the Ice Queen quickly regained her concentration, the icicle now pointing to the God's chest and her arms crossed, an annoyed expression on her features.  
>«Darkness is all you will witness after I'll get rid of you and your dirty, twisted mind of a devil.»<br>Hades just huffed, amused.

«You know no one can actually kill an immortal one, don't you?  
>The icicle scratched the hem of his toga.<p>

«Wanna actually find out? Try me.»

Her eyes were piercing needles, and he just rolled his eyes, moving the icicle away with a good loss of energy. He made sure not to show it, though.  
>«Fine. I took you there because I felt like you needed to see the two of us are not the only ones, after all.»<br>And with that, he knew that he had reached the point.  
>The ice promptly disappeared, and he shook his fingers to light the torches again.<br>She still stood there, arm crossed and weight placed on one leg, the slit of her dress revealing _dangerous_ skin displays, _very dangerous_ ones.  
>However, in that moment, her utter and incomparable beauty was surmounted by another recurring trait of her personality: her almost absurd resemblance to a fierce lioness eyeing her next prey, a prey she would have liked to kill and devour with enormous, great delight. Eyes narrowed and brow furrowed, lips sealed and fingers tapping on her own ice fabric, the Ice Queen was as menacing as the most dangerous of mythological creatures. Maybe she just <em>was<em> the most dangerous, after all.

«Our kind? _Our_ kind? We have nothing in common, Hades, and we both know it very well» she finally stated, her voice annoyed and clearly tired of that pointless conversation.

But he knew how to act.  
>After all, having all the time in the world gives you wide room to practice whatever you prefer.<br>And he had always had a thing for the art of great pretenders.

«Are you sure, my dear?»  
>The God of the Underworld lit another cigar, blowing some smoke in the air and twirling his hands. The black dust immediately reacted, changing in shapes and consistency.<br>Their two figures appeared, made of smoke, standing side by side.  
>The Ice Queen's phantom threw an icy blast in the air, and the smoky God set it on fire.<br>«Actually, I'd say the right opposite. We are the same: you like to play with ice-»  
>«I don't <em>play<em>, Hades. I dominate.»  
>«-fine. You like to <em>dominate<em> ice, while I was gifted with flames and sparks. You create and destroy, you build and disgregate, just as I do. Also, we share a weakness that might seem insignificant, among all our analogies and shared perspectives, but I strongly believe to be important. One of our biggest flaws and weaknesses.»  
>Elsa cocked an eyebrow, sitting again with a frustrated moan: that man was always an actor on a stage, and his monologues were his favourite part of the script.<br>The smoke dummies sat on two little thrones, a tower rising right under their feet, surmounting lands and lands of grey, floating dust.  
>Hades huffed.<br>«But _power_, of course, darlin'.»

She didn't reply, her back stiff against the black throne, its spikes shining and glimmering to the firelight.  
>Hades observed her profile, her light freckles and sealed, tightly pressed lips.<br>Snapping his fingers again, he nudged an elbow towards her, eliciting a light chuckle with his following statement.  
>«Bonus: we both are the hottest beings that ever roamed these damned stinky lands.»<p>

«Anyway, dear, there are ways and ways to recognize power. Your _own_ powers, for example.»  
>She cocked an eyebrow, glancing at him with a daring expression.<br>«What is it that you have to say about my powers?» it was not a question that wanted an answer, and she left no doubt on that.  
>But hey, he was the God of the Underworld, had he ever respected written or unwritten rules?<br>«You always like to say that you are an _artist_, that your power is creation and destruction, and you seem totally involved in the _poetry_ that it brings along. But you are _wasting_ it, darlin'.»  
>Elsa's smoke phantom twirled her hands and created a popsicle, ice cubes and snowballs that she promptly threw to Hades' little figure.<br>The real Elsa smirked in badly hidden amusement.  
>«Why?» and she seemed genuinely curious about it.<br>«You are _messy_. Don't mistake me-» he immediately added, getting the thousandth piercing glare of that night. «-but you just get these outbursts of anger and blood thirst and pure _rage_, then you go, kill anything you see- you'd kill even rocks, if you only could- and then you get back, hands dripping blood and eyes empty, and you are so tired that you don't even whistle at my incredible hotness, my dear» he grinned, sharp teeth trying to be sexy and arousing.  
>She just chuckled, shaking her head, but she quickly got back on track, and shot him with the deadliest of blue eyes he had ever seen.<p>

«Well, almighty Hades, do you have any suggestions?».  
>Hades almost choked on his cigar, startled by her total lack of menaces or threatening.<br>But he knew what lied under them. A deep, deep desolation and emptiness.  
>When you have nothing to say, it means you have nothing inside.<br>And she was maybe even more empty than him.  
>«Of course I have, dearie, am I myself or not?» their smoky phantoms started to create hell in a cloud of black dust, freezing and burning every obstacle on their mocking way.<br>«So?».

Hades grinned, closing his fist and disintegrating his creation, his eyes shining in expectation at the burning fire of his cigar, sharp teeth cricking for the strenght of his clenched jaw.

And the monologue was done. The actor was bowing, receiving roses and acclamations, while Hades had the full attention of the Ice Queen. Which was pretty the same thing.  
>«Do you now understand who we are, Els? Those of our kind?»<br>She looked in his eyes once again, now serious, every trace of mocking intimidation completely gone.  
>«The leftovers. The misfits. Broken toys that no one wants to play with anymore».<br>«Right. Well, almost.»  
>Hades grinned.<br>A wide, too stretched, devilish grin, showing sharp teeth and even sharper thoughts.  
>He got up, chuckling with his lips sealed, goggling his head like one of those weird, uneasy old dolls with their cranium bigger than their whole body.<br>Walking slowly, he traced a path around the two thrones, while the Ice Queen held her seat, her knuckles gone whiter than usual for the strenght of her hold.  
>Elsa could swear she heard a strange music starting to play from the Valleys of Tears. Tambourines and steps of giants, alarming voices signing on top of their lungs. It looked like a battle song. But she was far more concentrated on the man- the Devil- walking around her seat, hands behind his back, black smoke surrounding the hems of his grey attire.<br>«You see, dearie, we are _far more than that_. We can be many, many things. It's one of the blessings of hiding in darkness: even a broken skeleton can be a roaring lion, ready to bite and tear his prey to pieces.  
>He smiled, stopping in front of her.<br>The albine lioness hiding in snowfalls.  
>«And another of our blessings, darlin', is that nothing happens without a reason, when speaking of us.»<br>«So you're telling me the reason why I am here, finally.»  
>His hand ran to his chest, in a shocked gesture.<br>«So you have doubts about my undying and _pure_ love for you?»  
>She cocked an eyebrow, crossing her legs and smirking lightly.<br>The God of the Underworld rolled his eyes, waving his hand in the air.  
>«Fine, fine.»<br>«So?»  
>«Nothing is given to destiny or case, here. And disorder is not an option. But you are so <em>messy<em> in you run towards vengeance.»  
>Elsa got up, and they both walked to the balcony, resting on its edge, observing the Underworld.<br>Far from there, the Ice Queen could see bonfires and volcanoes, the caves where damned souls had to create endless armies of weapons, shields and utensils.  
>Moving her eyes to the right, the black rivers of memory and unrequited gifts ran unstoppably, Charon rowing and screaming some inaudible words – probably his usual tantrums, while souls waited on the grey and white sand. Some had already crossed the rivers, directing themselves towards their last destinations, their eternal ones. The giants' singing echoed through the valleys and mountains, the grey moon of the Underworld glimmering behind them, immobile and half missing as always.<br>«You see, they all had some reason to perpetrate their actions, some rightful, some even less than monstrous. But in the end they all end up here. Death and time are the only things that make us all the same, forcing us to bow under their eternal strenght. But look down there. You can easily spot the ones who had a reason to be here and the ones who shouldn't, at least not so soon.»  
>Hades stretched one hand to the souls under them, as if he wanted to grab them.<br>Indeed, he was right: while some souls promptly jumped down from the boats and walked with pride, almost _rage_, far away from the City, to the caves and lost mountains, there were many, many more that just stood there, wandering in circles, not knowing if they were there for their sins or just for a mistake. Unsure of which way to take: the City, or the empty lands?  
>«Do you want to punish those who don't even know what their place is, or those who keep being cruel, wicked and monstrous even after our gates, Els?»<br>She didn't even blink.  
>«I don't know what you are talking about. I am not the hand of justice. I don't decide who deserves to live and who doesn't.»<br>«But haven't you already, and many times, blinded with rage, dearie?»  
>Elsa didn't reply and Hades smirked.<br>«Oh, sure there is some kind of wicked pleasure in destroying anything that gets in our way, I reckon that. But wouldn't you be more satisfied if you knew that you destroyed one of your own kind? A wicked, dark soul? Isn't the difficulty of the run more satisfying than the final prize, sometimes? Killing nobodies is fun. Killing the ones like you, that is the _real challenge_. Oh, and guess what? I have a long, long list of those ones.» he lighted another cigar.  
>«What is the point?»<br>«The point is, my dear, that everyone can participate in a bloody race» and with that, he grinned again, looking more evil and cruel than Elsa had ever seen him, «But only those of our kind can go hunting for the biggest preys».

She didn't answer. She had understood what he meant.  
>Slowly rising herself from the balcony, she turned around, high heels tapping on the stone floor, gates closing behind her back with a muffled sound.<br>He nodded. He didn't need to chase her, or ask for answers.  
>Hers was already clear, even if she pretended the opposite.<br>Hades enjoyed the silence.  
><em>Those of their kind didn't need words to speak<em>.

**_ᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣᎣ_**

When things first change we tend to notice them more: but then we become used to them and it all turn to common routine.  
>When Elsa had started to come at the (D)Evil's Tavern alone, without Hades, at first the other costumers had noticed and talked about it: but then it had become such a typical thing that it was much more of a surprise if they entered together.<br>Since her first entrance in the tavern, Elsa had gained the respect and the admiration she thought she deserved: she usually ordered a White Lady and then spent the evening talking with The Company and waiting for Hades, that often arrived later. If asked, both of them shrugged: he had things to do, they said; she preferred to come earlier, they said. They walked out together, and nobody questioned anymore.

But there was something going on between the God of the Underworld and the Ice Queen, and – Elsa knew – all had been started by _that_ conversation. Hades' words still buzzed in her mind.  
>Because she would have never admitted it, but he was <em>right<em>.  
>Rage. Rage was the only thing she felt when she destroyed villages and lives.<br>Still, Elsa didn't completely understand. It had been a while after they talked about it, and nothing had happened. Hades had done nothing to change things, and she had destroyed three new villages.  
>If he wanted her to participate to that big race, he needed to give her the ticket.<p>

Elsa thought at this while was sitting alone at the table waiting for Ursula and Maleficent, legs crossed, slowly savouring her White Lady in small sips.  
>When suddenly her neck's hair tickled she turned around, one hand automatically opened, ready to face whoever had had the courage to walk at her back: no one but the dark was behind her.<br>She raised an eyebrow, confused, and remained like that a few seconds.

«Bam. Dead».

Elsa jumped and turned around again just to find that one of chair in front of her was now occupied, but not by someone she knew: there was a man with moustaches and a top hat with a skull painted on it.  
>He had the fingers of both his hands crossed in front of his chin. He was grinning.<br>«You took too much time looking around. If I wanted to kill you, now you'd be dead».  
>Elsa blinked a few times.<br>«I didn't think I needed to defend myself here» was all she found appropriate to reply.  
>«Wrong» the man snapped his tongue. «One of your kind should always expect to be threatened, everywhere, every time».<br>Elsa stiffened, remembering Hades' words. She didn't change expression, however.  
>«And which is my kind, if I may ask?»<br>«But why, the beautiful kind of Evil Queens!» he laughed. «Be sure to react next time, it would be a shame if someone disfigured your beautiful face, _cherie_».

Elsa smirked.  
>«You are one of a kind, too» she said. «I didn't catch your name».<br>«Didn't you?» he pretended to be mortified. «Oh,_ je m'excuse_ , how could I forget? The name's Facilier» he took her hand and kissed it, «also known as Shadow Man».  
>«Pleasure» she said. «I am…»<br>«Elsa, the Ice Queen» he interrupted her. «The fact that you didn't know who I was didn't impose the same for me. You are the new gossip of the club. Hades chose well his Queen».  
>His smirk implied everything and nothing at the same time and Elsa didn't know exactly how to reply.<p>

«So» Facilier said, avoiding her the struggle of a choice, «you hang around with The Company a lot, I see. What do you think about them?»  
>Elsa tilted her head, intrigued.<br>«I thought only Hades used that name» she said.  
>«Actually it was me who coined it, but you know Hades – he takes the merits of everything he can».<br>«So you are a part of The Company, too».  
>Facilier grinned, showing the little space between his perfectly white front teeth.<br>«A part of?» he repeated. «_Mademoiselle_, I am the very first member».  
>Elsa's eyes widened in surprise.<br>She was not expecting that.

In some way, she had always thought that Hades was the founder of The Company, or that it simply created by itself. Now she sudden realized that the God, after all, had less power than she had imagined: and the slender man in front of her seemed to read her thoughts, from the way he was grinning.  
>«You didn't answer my question» he made her notice.<br>«What was it?»  
>«The Company. What do you think about them?»<br>Elsa nodded and drank another bit of her White Lady.  
>«A disorganized group» she commented. «Scar and Maleficent seem to have completely retired from their business; Hook is too lazy to do something good, and Ursula talks a lot but has no real plan to take over the seas».<br>Facilier let go of a hoarse laugh.  
>«I tend to agree» he said. «I congratulate, you observed them for much less time than me and still you already got their personalities straight».<br>He looked away for a second as he was glaring at someone near the wall, but it was just a moment and in the dark Elsa couldn't be sure.  
>«Shadow Man, right?» she said. «What do you do exactly?»<br>Facilier grinned, as he was waiting for this question since the beginning. He stretched his arm in front of Elsa and opened his hand: a deck of cards appeared on it.  
>«I do tricks».<p>

«A magician» Elsa said.  
>«I don't think there is a name for what I am» Facilier replied. While he talked, the deck moved all along his arm, reached his shoulder and ran up to his other hand as it had its own life. «But if you need to give me one, I'd prefer <em>illusionist<em>. A magician plays with hands and eyes, I» the deck disappeared «play with _minds_».  
>Elsa cocked an eyebrow, not completely sure she had understood. But before she could say anything else, Facilier stood up.<p>

«I see Ursula and Maleficent coming» he informed her. «It was nice to talk to you, Ice Queen. If you'll ever want to play a card match with me you know where to find me».  
>«Actually, I don't» Elsa replied.<br>Facilier shrugged.  
>«Wherever you like».<br>He raised two fingers and a card appeared in them: he handed it to Elsa and then walked away, disappearing in the dark as if he was a shadow himself.  
>Elsa remained immobile, blinking, but when Ursula and Maleficent approached and sat down she immediately turned her eyes on them – <em>bam. Dead<em>. She didn't want to risk.  
>The two women tilted their head.<br>«Are you okay, Elsa? You look confused, what happened?»  
>Elsa didn't answer and looked at the card Facilier had left her. She smiled a little, perplexed.<p>

It was a Jolly.

* * *

><p>.<p>

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Authors' notes.

Ser: Well, here I am again! Hil doesn't feel very well so I don't know if she will write something here.  
>As you have seen if you're reading these notes, yes, this was another very long chapter. Actually, every chapter will be a very long chapter. If you really can't stand it, we can try to make them shorter... (no, I'm lying. We won't. Get used to it :3 At least you'll have something that keeps you waiting all the week!)<br>Uh, what to say about this chapter? There isn't so much action, that's right. But you know, to make a jump you have to make a run-up first :P So don't worry, things will happen. A lot of things.  
>Meanwhile, you met Facilier. And you can probably understand that he won't be a side character.<br>And Hades left you with the idea that something is going to happen.  
>And yes, the flashbacks will be our escamotage to put Elsanna in this. The only one? Of course not. But I shut up or I'll spoiler everything and Hil will kill me.<br>And also yes, Scar is human. Hil did a drawing about him, maybe she can upload it on tumblr when she feels better.  
>And so, yeah. I talked too much. Sorry folks.<br>We want to thank you all for the amazing reviews. You rock!  
>See you on friday!<br>Ser

P.S. Oh and for who doesn't know, Fuego means Fire. So, you know, Hades' drink is the Margarita de Fuego. Of course.


	5. ἐλέγχω - Control

Control

**Ψ**

**ἐλέγχω**

**Ψ**

_It will have to snow in Hell, before I take orders from you._

* * *

><p>Breathe in.<p>

_Control_.

Breathe out.

_Cold_.

Breathe in.

_Darkness_.

Breathe out.

_Silence_.

_Breathe_.

_Just breathe_.

The ice slowly covered the surface under his feet, surrounding rocks and sharp edges, its low and creaky sound making his ears shiver in expectation.  
>It was like hearing the steps of a psychotic being, slowly approaching him from behind and moving in the dark at his back. The brief moment of anxiety before <em>something<em>, something that it wasn't possible to witness or know, something impossible to look in the eyes, primarily because it had none.  
><em>Death<em>.  
>The sharp sound of the ice.<br>That was the sound that people heard before _dying_.  
>«Breathe deeply and <em>control<em> it, well done» Hades said, watching the transparent patina surround her figure, water crystals replacing dust and grey grass, like if the ground was a poisonous snake and ice was just its new, lethal skin.

Elsa closed her fists, all the progress she had made disappearing in a cloud of debris. She eyed him without turning, her perfect profile shining in the dim moonlight. her voice came out as a calm, menacing reminder.  
>«I don't take orders. From <em>anyone<em>.»  
>He had finally managed to bring her to the Prairies of Melancholy, lost displays of grey grass field and cinder ground, lonely oaks appearing every now and then in the monotone landscapes of the Underworld.<br>That was, maybe, Hades' favourite place in the whole world: the only place of utter silence and loneliness, of mocking peace in a land of pain and desolation.  
>So, it seemed more than logical to bring her there and let her shatter it to ruins.<br>So logical.  
>«You know, dearie, pride is the most common cause of failure around here.»<br>She turned around, slow steps forming ice shards at her sides as she walked towards him.  
>The Ice Queen stopped halfway through, smirking and stretching her left hand in the crisp midnight air.<br>«You may be right» she whispered, and for a brief moment Hades got speechless. _Had she really said that?_  
>«But the problem is» and as she closed her fist ice started climbing up his toga, freezing the fabric and his insides too.<p>

«That I am _not_» hands.

«A» arms.

«_Common_» shoulders.

«One.»

The ice surrounded his throat, her eyes piercing him as the deadliest of weapons.  
>But Hades just smirked in satisfaction.<br>«See? Little improvements» he stated, wiggling his eyebrows as she just cocked one, arms crossed on her chest and head tilted to the side.  
>«Oh, dearie, I'd clap my hands for you and your <em>burning<em> temper, but» and he grinned, «I am _a bit_ incapacitated».  
>She silently hissed and twirled her fingers, ice slowly retreating to the ground.<br>As soon as it left his wrists, Hades gifted her with a slow clap.  
>«What a <em>cool<em> demeanour, darlin', you really _burned holes_ in the audience.»

Hades had suggested her the idea since her first times in the Underworld, after they had met at the empty clearing.  
>Watching her now, he almost couldn't believe she was the same one who had entered the gates of his land so many empty nights before. Closing his eyes, he could clearly hear those muffled sounds again: when everyone drifted to sleep and the Underworld turned silent, when he slowly walked past her rooms, he could hear faint hiccups and tears falling on the stone floor.<br>Tears.  
><em>Her tears<em>.  
>But as time went on – didn't it always and for everyone, though? – hiccups and tired pleas made of sorrow turned into a silent, closed door. Showing up in the Throne Hall, after those dark hours, her eyes were more and more dry, time after time.<br>He had given her chambers, rooms, she had taken her own throne, turning from a fragile lily into the most poisonous of thorns. Because it was true, he reckoned, that change was one of the hardest things to achieve. But there was a way. And it was paved in shock, sorrow, mourning, realization, darkness, anger, rage and desire. Desire of vengeance. Blind pain that knew nothing but rage, and rage, and oh! even more rage.  
>When a lion gets trapped in a cage, there is one way to know if he is a real slayer or just a mocking phantom of it: observation.<br>Most lions would just fall in apathy after a while, in silence, become empty inside, only the ghost of what they originally represented. But not each one of them. Some would not.

Some would stay down, and let their imprisoners think of them as weak ones.  
>And then, rise up.<br>And _attack_.

He was not an imprisoner, and she had never been a lion in a cage. But, lately, is felt like the exact opposite.  
>She hadn't even took time to prepare.<br>She had attacked him with the strongest weapon of all.  
><em>Herself<em>.

From lily to poisonous black rose.  
>One of his best achievements.<p>

And thus, in that moment, the Ice Queen glared at him with a clearly annoyed expression on her features, maybe expecting answers to a question he hadn't even heard.  
>Hades shook his head.<br>«Excuse me? I got _frozen_ by your performance, my dear.»  
>She blatantly rolled her eyes, getting beside him and letting her back rest on the Grey Oak's wood too.<br>«I asked," And Hades could swear he had seen the cinder sky shiver in anticipation, «_why_ do you insist on bringing me here for your "training sessions" of sort. Do you want me to die of boredom? You know that's not the way you do it, right?».

Silence.

Hades chose his next words very, very carefully, letting each and every one of them roll on his tongue, tasting the immediate consequences of his speech.  
>«Because, darlin', let me reveal you a little tiny insignificant detail:» he leaned closer to her face, narrowing his eyes, and she didn't even blink, keeping her irises fixed in his golden burning circles, «this isn't home. We are not sleeping in the rocking arms of mama and papa, we are not drinking hot chocolate while our clothes dry from our playing times in the snow, this is not a snowball fight you are getting ready for, and we are indeed not playing hide and seek with our little siblings, or wait, better if I say, we are not hiding in a closet <em>with<em> our siblings, throwing each and every moral aside with our _clothes_».

Silence.

«Don't.» she pushed her hands forward, gritting her teeth, and ice steadily ran over the Oak, the grass, and even the wind seemed to die soundlessly.

But he did.  
>«Oh, you know, there was <em>something<em>, back in the nights, when you first came here. Since that time, that time when I mentioned siblings. I knew there was something behind that word. I felt it _burning my lungs_, darlin'.»

Ice covered everything that the eye could see. Squinting, Hades could swear even the Great Fire Mountains were by then deep under snow and frost.  
>But he didn't care.<br>The Ice Queen stiffened, and clenched her jaw, fists trembling for the strenght of her hold.  
>Her knuckles had gone whiter than the usual.<p>

Hades walked around her and the tree, hands behind his back, measuring his words with each step he took.  
>«See, it's no big deal really, I come from ancient Greeks, those guys were the real deviated ones, dearie» he smirked, getting in front of her again.<br>She was clutching the fabric of her cape with one hand, the other one pressed on her chest, as if she wished to stop breathing.  
>How unfortunate, the Underworld was the worst place to make wishes.<br>«I mean, imagine, old philosophers loved to have _fun times_ with young and beautiful flowers, just like you, or your beloved _sister_».

«DON'T YOU DARE MENTION HER EVER AGAIN!»

Sharp icicles stabbed his toga, piercing him in place. An ice sword pointed right in the middle of his chest.  
>Unexpected thing was, someone was holding it firmly.<br>And that someone was the Ice Queen.

Hades rose his hands, a drop of sweat vaporizing on his boiling skin.

«There, there dearie, I think we got a bit carried away here, put that toy down now».  
>The blade only pressed harder on his heart.<br>Or, at least, where common people were supposed to have one.  
>Elsa narrowed her eyes, teeth producing an eerie sound as she clenched her jaw and spat a few words, her muscles tensed and her irises truly burning with rage. Or was it hate?<br>«Don't you dare» And she hissed, clutching his toga with a fist and rising the ice blade to his throat, «Don't you _dare_ make fun of her again or even _name_ her again, you bastard».

And Hades did the most illogical thing possible.  
>He laughed.<p>

Elsa glared at him with a puzzled expression, but it was promptly erased by venom and rage. Again.  
>«You are asking for death. I'm going to damn kill you. I <em>swear<em> on any-»  
>«Oh, Els, you are so predictable. I knew there was something. But I didn't expect it to be <em>so deep<em>».  
>She just stared at him, the ice sword held firmly in hand, now lowered to his stomach but still piercing his skin like the most menacing of treats.<br>As silence fell, Hades moved his hand and shifted the blade, walking past her, hands behind his back and steps slow and calculated on the frozen grey ground.

He stopped halfway through, tilting his head to her, and smiling.  
>«Funny thing is, I don't blame you.»<br>Silence.  
>«...you don't?»<br>«Not at all. Did you think about my proposal? About following my wiseness, and simply directing your rage on the people I know are a preferable target?"  
>She just flinched, ice sword disappearing from her hands and ice suddenly leaving the Underworld.<br>«I didn't even _consider_ it, you filthy creep.»  
>Hades just chuckled in amusement, turning around and shaking his head sternly.<br>«You see, _this_ is the reason why we keep coming here with these training habits of sorts. The point isn't to make you stronger – you know you already are. The point is to teach you how to behave. You are a Queen? Then act like one. You have such a great power, Elsa, and you keep wasting it, as I told you way before now. What is the point of owning a float, if you can't even stand sea breeze? _Control_, darlin'. She is your soft spot. The one that makes you lose every thread keeping you tied in cold and concentration. Learn to control yourself, and you'll control the world».  
>Saying that, he started to walk away, back towards their palace, or maybe towards nowhere at all.<br>She just stood there, and then questioned him with the most hateful and angry voice he had ever heard.  
>«Why don't you blame me, Hades?»<p>

She had called him by name, and then stepped beside him, walking at his pace too.  
>He just shrugged, his tone nothing more than a whisper.<br>«Because of the look in your eyes.» He simply stated, stepping on, «You loved her».  
>«No, I <em>didn't<em>».  
>«I'm sorry?»<br>«I _didn't_ love her in the past tense. I _do_ love her in present tense. In forever tense».  
>«Forever is an awfully long time, my dear».<br>«Don't we have all the time in the world?»  
>«Indeed».<p>

And they left, leaving an empty, endless prairie behind, sharp icicles still rising from the cinder ground, swirls of ashes falling from the sky like a melancholic, sad snowfall, only the ghost of a real one.  
>Before they disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, Hades wiggled his eyebrows again, and the Ice Queen just shook her head, annoyed.<p>

«So... did you think about it? Will you listen to me and do what I tell you to?»  
>She cocked an eyebrow, leaving him behind as they disappeared, following her own path.<br>The last thing he saw were her shoulder blades, moving fast as she stepped away from that place, footprints in the ashes and golden braid swinging in the frosty, freezing air.

«It will have to snow in Hell, before I take orders from you».

_**Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ**Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****  
><strong>**_

«Scar, I need something fresh to drink».  
>«A Frostbite would be good?»<br>«You are the expert».  
>Elsa grabbed the glass Scar handed her, rewarded him with a golden coin and then went back to sit at the table with Ursula, Maleficent and Hook.<br>«I'm pretty sure» the sorceress said, «that if you weren't the Ice Queen you would be sweating right now».  
>«I'm doing a lot of training with Hades» Elsa explained. «Not that I need any, of course. It's just him who is paranoid».<br>She drank a sip, not willing to give other information. Hook giggled.  
>«I wonder what kind of training it is, and in which room you practice…»<br>Elsa had already opened one hand and was ready to freeze his mouth, when she heard something more interesting behind her, near the counter.

_Canalize your rage_.

«Pick a card, Scar. If I guess which one it is, you give me a free drink».  
>«I won't fall for it again, Facilier. You always win».<br>«_Allons_,_ allons_, luck is blind! If you don't try, it will never kiss you».

Elsa drank brief sips of her Frostbite, absently listening to Ursula's words and watching the scene with the corner of her eye: Facilier, the bizarre man with the velvet top hat, was holding a deck of cards in front of Scar.  
>The bartender sighed and picked one, looked at it, and then put it back in the deck. Facilier started to mix it, his eyes never leaving Scar's. When he stopped, he raised the card on top: Two of Spades.<br>«Is this?»  
>Scar growled.<br>«Yeah».  
>«Looks like you're too hairy for kisses» Facilier teased with a grin. Scar slammed a glass in front of him. «Oh, a Le Mans. My favourite. <em>Merci<em>».  
>He turned around to walk away, and for a second his eyes met Elsa's. In the dark his purple irises were shining, but it could have easily be the light of the candles.<p>

«Tell me» Elsa addressed to the others, interrupting Ursula's story, «is Facilier the founder of this Company?»  
>The mention of him made the three villains hush. They eyed each other, doubtful on what to say and which words to use.<br>«Yes, he is» Maleficent started. «He reunited all of us around a table to play a cards match one day, and that was the beginning of "The Company"».  
>«It's not that we don't like to talk with the others» Ursula pointed out, «but we prefer to stay in this group. We are respected. We are feared».<br>«And it's not a surprise» Hook said. «Everyone in here respect and fear Facilier. He is everywhere and nowhere. You should be careful, too».  
>«I admit he is a singular man» Elsa replied, «but I don't fear him at all. He is just a magician, an illusionist. Tricks can't hurt».<br>«_His_ can. He is more powerful than what he seems. Nobody ever won a cards match with him. They say…» but he hushed before he could finish the sentence.  
>Maleficent bent over Elsa's hear and whispered: «They say the last one who did is now trapped in one of his cards».<br>Elsa laughed out loud.  
>«What a nonsense!» she exclaimed. «It's ridiculous. He is just good at tricks. I am way more powerful than him – honestly, they should fear <em>me<em>, not him».  
>«But we do, I mean, they do» Ursula said. «Facilier, however… He is different. There is something strange about him, something I can't trust. Hades is the only one who talks with him frequently, Hades and…»<br>She was about to say a name, but Maleficent slapped one of her tentacles and she hushed. The three of them lowered her eyes on their hands and remained silent.  
>Elsa cocked an eyebrow.<br>«What a nonsense» she repeated. Then got up and walked away.

She followed the candles until she saw Facilier again, sitting at a table in the corner. He was mixing cards as he was waiting for someone to sit in front of him – and Elsa did just that. The chair creaked when she sat down.  
>«That offer of a cards match with you is still open?» she asked with a mischievous smirk.<br>Facilier took off the hat and bowed his head.  
>«What a pleasure to see you again, <em>cherie<em>. And of course, of course it is. I was yearning for this day».  
>Elsa crossed her legs as Facilier's hands hid the deck: it had disappeared when he raised them, but he just needed to move them forward, as he wanted to throw something, ane the cards reappeared between his fingers, half in the left hand and half in the right.<br>«Poker, shall we?»  
>Elsa cocked an eyebrow, trying to not show how impressed she was, and nodded. Facilier retrieved the cards and handed five to her, then five to himself.<br>«How are we gonna pay?» the woman asked. «I don't have much money with me».  
>«Oh, we are not forced to play with money. I accept any kind of payment. Coins, gems, drinks, memories, books…»<br>«Souls».  
>Facilier smirked behind his cards.<br>«It's not common, but yes, that too».  
>«And what if you lose?»<br>He snapped his tongue.  
>«I don't lose».<br>Elsa hesitated to pick up her cards, and Facilier noticed.  
>«I bet they told you about the legend that revolves around me» he said. «Don't worry, <em>cherie<em>: there is no one you don't know, in those cards».  
>A second snap of the tongue, as he was tasting his own words. Elsa still didn't move.<br>«So, what kind of payment do you want from me?» she asked. Better be sure.  
>«Oh, let's not talk about this now. We can decide later, or another time».<br>«I don't like to make debts».  
>Facilier grinned.<br>«Then win».

And so they played, but in the end Elsa lost. Having the King of Spades and the Queen of Hearts between her cards didn't help her as much as she hoped. Facilier won the match with a Full Boat, three Aces – Clubs, Hearts, Spades – and two Jacks – Hearts, Diamonds.  
>«It's true what they say» she put down her cards, slowly shaking her head. «You never lose».<br>«I can't, _cherie_» Facilier replied. «It's like wanting the Moon to stop rising and the flowers to stop scent. It's impossible».  
>«Nothing is impossible if you really want it. I could freeze all the flowers, and so they'll stop scent».<br>«But at what price? No bouquets for the brides, no gifts for your girlfriend. You would lose much more than what you would gain».  
>Elsa tilted her head, confused.<br>«So, what are you saying?»  
>«I'm saying» Facilier smirked, opening her hand and revealing the whole deck in it, even if Elsa hadn't see him pick up the cards, «that it's better for everyone if I win. Even for you. Mostly for you».<br>The woman frowned. Facilier's smirk had really something strange, something that couldn't be trusted and that however made her feel safe in some way, as if she would have continued playing nothing could have ever hurt her, not for real.  
>But his eyes, on the other hand, were devouring her soul, opening all her secret boxes, reading all her secrets.<p>

_And she was jealous of her secrets_.

Elsa got up, slamming her hands on the table. Gritted teeth, as he had offended her in the most despicable way without a single word.  
>Facilier didn't move.<br>«Control yourself, _cherie_. Hades wouldn't be pleased to know all his lessons had gone wasted».  
>The mention of Hades and his trainings – how in the world did Facilier know about them? – made Elsa snap out of it. She took a breath, blinked, and sat down again.<p>

_Control.  
>Your.<br>Rage._

«You learn fast».  
>Elsa frowned again.<br>«You are a strange one, Facilier» she said.  
>«Strange» the illusionist's eyes shone, «is the word people use when they are scared of something».<br>Elsa blinked again, and he was gone.

_**Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ**Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****_

«You've been very strange, lately.»  
>Winds whirled slowly, grass moving in the breeze like ocean waves, ashes floating in the air as a mocking snowfall.<br>The Ice Queen didn't reply, standing fiercely a few feet away from him.  
>Hades was resting his back against the Grey Oak, as usual, while she twirled her fingers in front of her own eyes and tiny spikes formed on black rocks, one after the other, until her work was done.<br>A whole garden of ice roses, surrounding them both.  
>Then, she turned around, a crystal flower in her hand and the most stinging thorns in her voice.<br>«Someone told me, lately, that 'strange' is just a synonym of fear. Are you scared of me, Almighty Hades?»  
>She didn't even wait for an answer, and just played a bit with the rose, smirking.<br>The God of the Underworld didn't immediately reply, focused on that single, cold flower: roses were usually red in everyone's mind, and in that moment it looked like if the petals had died just instants before, still conserving their utter beauty and grace. But the red was long gone, and where there was a lack of it, her perfect, full lips compensated everything.  
>Hers were taunting lips, teasing ones, who promised but never kept their pledges, auburn rose petals hidden between pages of old books, filled with all the stories that they still had to tell.<br>«I'm not even gonna answer that. Instead of teasing the Unknown, you may want to focus on what's around you, dearie.»  
>The Ice Queen tilted her head, her irises shifting briefly from his face to the little rose she was still holding. It wouldn't melt in her hands. When ice finds something even colder than itself, it embraces it with the utmost dedication, cold bringing cold in a neverending circle.<br>Which was colder, if the flower or her skin, no one could actually tell.  
>«I just see the usual reflection of my deeply artistic being, and nothing else.»<br>«Modesty certainly isn't one of your blessings, my dear.»  
>«You mean, one of my <em>flaws<em>. Modesty means unawareness, in this sharp land. And unawareness means defeat.»  
>Hades stepped towards her, grabbing an ice flower as he walked. It promptly melted in his hands, before he could even observe it. So attiring, so beautiful, yet so unreachable.<br>Just like her.

But he didn't mind.  
>Instead, he simply stood by an ice tree, made so precisely and in harmony that he could even spot the leaves' veins, the wormholes in the wood, the little wrinkles of the ice apples hanging from its threads.<br>She eyed him with curiosity.  
>«Why do you like this place?»<br>«I don't know. It's peaceful. You know, even the Devil himself needs to breathe fresh air, sometimes.»  
>She cocked an eyebrow. Talk about default mimics.<br>«So, basically you struggled to find a peaceful and silent place far away from everything, and you brought me, _me_ here, in order to let me turn it upside down.»  
>«We could say I don't have a <em>cold temper<em>».  
>«You idiot».<br>«I like your company too, why and thank you».

Silence.

«But honestly, darlin', I wanted to make you notice the progress you've made in this place. Look at what you can do with the tiniest bit of _control_.»  
>He stretched his arms as if he wanted to embrace the whole prairie, smirking in satisfaction.<br>She didn't even blink, crossing her arms and snapping her ever-so-present braid to her back.  
>«I didn't make any. I could do these things way before you met me, you vain walking bonfire.»<br>Hades chose to ignore her teasing, red flames sparkling for mere instants on his head before he ran a hand through his flame air, whispering something that the Ice Queen recognized as a muffled "I'm fine I'm cool I'm fine".  
>He was almost on the verge of a sarcastic comeback, but she preceded him.<br>And shocked him right in place.  
>Didn't she always, though?<p>

«I thought about your proposal. That mutual vengeance plan.»

Silence.

Hades just stood frozen in place, and for once it wasn't because of actual ice climbing his boiling limbs.  
>She glared at him, ice rose still twirling between her fingers, and he found the will to wonder why the Hell- ha, his irony- the thorns wouldn't sting her at least once, with all that playing and fidgeting with a risky weapon.<br>As if she had read into his mind, she slowly pressed a fingertip on one of the thorns.  
>It disappeared before she could even brush it.<p>

«Ice would never hurt itself. Tell me, Hades, did you ever suffer from burned skin?» and she smiled, not a smirk, but a real, simple, amused smile, and he couldn't help but chuckle.  
>«Okay, I admit it was a <em>burning desire<em> of mine to understand. It was kinda obvious, let's admit it.»

They chuckled a bit, and then silence fell above them again.  
>Their two, slender figures faced the extension of the endless prairie, eyes wandering above infinite fields, and trees, field and trees again, a neverending path leading to nowhere.<br>«Don't you dare to believe I will accept that offer of yours. I told you, I will never take orders from anyone, let alone _you_.»  
>«But I already brought winter itself in the Underworld, dearie, who says it will never snow in Hell now?»<br>She just shrugged, twitching her wrist and throwing the rose in the air. It remained still, suspended between two gusts of wind, slowly opening its transparent petals, a fake blossoming for a fake beauty.  
>Her calm smile, though, was almost real, as she watched spring slowly appear from her own hands.<p>

«I didn't know you could do such a thing.»  
>The Ice Queen didn't even look at him, her eyes filled with calm and peace, as he had never seen her.<br>He wondered if another untold story was hidden behind that look, behind that silent moment of pure vulnerability.  
>No one would have ever answered him.<br>«There are so many things you don't know, about me.»

Silence fell, again, and for a while he simply enjoyed that sight.  
>The Ice Queen, becoming a wondered child again, speechless in front of her own capabilities.<p>

«So, about that offer. I could tell you about this list of evil, filthy people I know. Big preys, not the little roaming fish. Truly wicked beings without the slightest hint of remorse.»  
>«You'd probably end up using me as a simple weapon. And we all know I am anything but that, here.»<p>

She started to walk away, her cloak waving in the brisk midnight air just as her golden, long braid.  
>Her shoulder blades moved fiercely, footprints marking the ashes for brief moments, right before the now whirling winds erased them.<br>Ashes to ashes.

She stopped halfway through, tilting her head towards him, her back stiff and straight.  
>«And who would assure me that those people were really evil, and not just spots on your little black window of vengeance?»<br>When Hades replied, whispering as he snapped his fingers, the rose fell to the ground, and she left, disappearing into the night.  
>Only a white flower remained as trace of her now lacking presence.<p>

«Would it really make a difference?»

It was broken in two.

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_«Elsa? What are you doing?»  
>The blonde looked up from the papers on her desk just for a second and then went back to study it.<br>«I'm working, Anna».  
>The red-haired glared at her feet. She bit her bottom lip, lighted only by the starry sky out of the window and a few candles on the table.<br>«But it's almost midnight» she murmured. In that moment, the pendulum clock in the living room rang twelve times. «Not it __**is**__ midnight».  
>Elsa laid the feather pen on the desk and rubbed her tired eyes.<br>«I'm perfectly aware of what time it is, Anna» she replied, even if it wasn't exactly true. «I'll finish this papers and then go to bed».  
>She pointed at the high pile of sheets in front of her and Anna sighed loudly.<br>«It won't take long» Elsa reassured her.  
>«You're lying» Anna pouted. «For when you finish I'll be already fast asleep».<br>«Sweet dreams, then».  
>The Princess whined. She walked across the room to reach her sister and tried to pull her away.<br>«I don't like you staying up this late!» she complained. «I want to go to sleep with you. Can't you finish the papers tomorrow?»  
>«Anna» Elsa rolled her eyes, «we had the same conversation yesterday and the day before yesterday».<br>«Yes, because you are working too much!»  
>The Queen tried to ignore her, but it wasn't easy since the red-haired was pulling her arm harder and harder.<br>«If I stay up this late is because I have duties towards the kingdom » she tried to reason with her. «I'm doing the best I can for the people, for you. I am the Queen».  
>«You are also my sister» Anna objected. «And a person too. You need sleep!»<br>The blonde was about to reply when the Princess, in a last desperate tentative to make her stand up, pulled her arm as hard as she could.  
>«Ouch!»<em>

_Anna immediately let go of her with a gasp of guilt. Elsa massaged her shoulder.  
>«Oh gosh, oh gosh I'm sorry» Anna whined. «Did I hurt you? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it, I'm sorry please forgive me!»<br>«Anna, stop. I'm okay, don't worry».  
>«But I'm just so sorry, I didn't want to…»<br>«Anna, you just pulled my arm. I'm fine. Don't worry».  
>The red-haired looked so concerned Elsa decided to finally stand up. She moved her arm.<br>«I'm fine. See?»  
>«You are not… Angry with me?»<br>The Queen smiled and shook her head, slowly.  
>«Of course I am not. I couldn't get angry to you, Anna».<br>She laughed a little. How could Anna even think something like that?_

_After all what had happened, only the idea of getting angry to Anna was unthinkable for her. She always tried to keep calm, everywhere, even when ambassadors and counsellors got really close to cross the line, because getting angry meant losing control of her powers. And since she didn't wear the gloves anymore – she was the Queen. She was in control. She had no weakness. She was powerful. That was what she was destined to be – that was a risk she couldn't take.  
>But with Anna… No, she never had to keep calm, with Anna. Now that she had nothing to hide from her anymore, her mind was peaceful when near to her sister.<br>She loved her.  
>She would have never get angry to her.<em>

_Elsa moved closer, with the intention of giving Anna a kiss on the forehead. But the red-haired moved at the last second, maybe to make sure her shoulder was really alright, and so she ended up kissing the corner of her mouth instead._

_It was merely the ghost of an accident, but Elsa quickly pulled away. She felt ice on her fingers and close her hands until in melted in her palms.  
>Anna didn't say anything. She just smiled, softly, her eyes still looking at her shoulder from time to time to assure she wasn't hurt.<em>

_They remained silent until Elsa decided to break it by taking her sister's hand – carefully, and only when the ice had melted completely.  
>«Come on, let's go to sleep».<br>Anna's eyes widened, surprised.  
>«And the papers?»<br>«I'll finish them tomorrow».  
>The red-haired smiled brightly and made a little jump.<br>«Thank you, Elsa, thank you!» she exclaimed. «Can I sleep with you? As the other night? Please?»  
>Elsa nodded.<br>«Yes, of course you can».  
>And as Anna's smile enlarged even more, and her eyes shone in happiness, Elsa felt a brief electric shock going through her chest and her brain. <em>

_She didn't know why, she didn't know what, neither, but she felt like she was hiding how she felt to Anna again._

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Her steps echoed in the grand Throne Hall, doors falling shut behind her as she made her way towards the infamous, menacing seat she had claimed way before.

A while had passed since their last talk in the Prairies of Melancholy, and Hades could only imagine what she was up to, given her constant silences.  
>As she sat on her throne, crossing her legs in that <em>dangerous<em> way, she cupped her own cheek with one hand, letting her head rest like that, tilted to the side, in a mocking gesture if boredom and tiredness.  
>Hades didn't ask her where she had been, or what she had been doing.<br>Her hands talked enough already.

Red.  
>Bloody red.<br>Blood.  
>Running from her fingertips to her wrists to her forearms, scarlet ink carving the white page of her ivory skin.<p>

Red.

«I had a nightmare» she whispered under her breath, and the God of the Underworld could have had it mistaken for a deep breath, if only it wasn't for the utmost silence of the empty hall.  
>But she didn't give him time to even think of a reply.<br>«I had a nightmare and I _had_ to do something about it, to calm myself. I think I exaggerated a bit, though, Charon was practically wailing on the riverside.»  
>«What did you dream?»<br>«One of the endless things you don't know about me, and never will. It felt pointless, though, killing all of those people.»

Hades decided not to question her anymore. He knew better. Pain and Panic still carried the marks for their last silly pushing boundaries.

The Ice Queen stared at him for a while, maybe following her own trail of thoughts, and then abandoned herself on the hard surface of the Iron Throne, shoulders hunched forward and blonde bangs covering a good half of her face.  
>As she pushed them back, she flickered her right wrist, and then closed her eyes, breathing deeply.<p>

«You know, you were right, at least for once.»  
>«About what, darlin'? Because, you know, it's obvious that I am always right about anything.»<br>«About me. About her. About that look in my eyes. About loving someone in forever tense. About everything.»  
>«Tell me something I don't know.»<br>«...we're there.»  
>«I'm sorry? I don't love hermetic answers, they leave me with a <em>cold<em> feeling, if you know what I mean.»  
>«...it's snowing.»<br>«Oh, wow, I hadn't noticed. Your observation skills leave me breathless. An applause for the most clever statement of the century, please!»

«...Hades, it's snowing in the _Underworld_.»

Silence.  
>Then, a grin shone in the dim torchlight.<br>A satisfied grin. A satisfied, wicked, evil grin.  
>«...this is it. <em>May the true games really begin.<em>»

* * *

><p>.<p>

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Authors' notes:

Ser: Yeah, me again. *dodges rotten tomatoes* Hil's not here, so you'll have to settle with me.  
>Anyway! What to say about this chapter? Not much, I think it talked by itself. This is still a run-up, but in the next chapter we will have the jump. The first... *cough cough* But don't understimate this run-up chapters, they may be important...<br>As you can see, Hades has a plan, and Elsa decided to follow it. What will happen? *I know* *haha*  
>Uh... I really don't know what to say, actually. Oh, I put Hil's drawing about Human!Scar on my tumblr, in case you didn't see it.<br>I'll go now. I hope you liked this chapter and thank you for all your amazing reviews!  
>See you on Friday!<br>Ser.


	6. κτείνω - Killing

Killing

**Φ**

**κτείνω**

**Φ**

_Those were the general unwritten rules._

* * *

><p>It had been a while.<br>It had been a while since she had accepted his offer.  
>And it had been a while since she had started to accomplish her missions like the best of warriors.<br>Sometimes, she wished that the war would end, the constant killing and destroying and shattering would simply _stop existing_.  
>But if they stopped, she would have stopped having <em>reasons<em>.  
>Reasons to avoid thinking, to avoid realizing, to avoid shattering in a million pieces.<br>Because she wasn't allowed to shatter, to tumble down. Because _she _wouldn't have liked it.  
>Breaking down was not an option.<p>

And, as she adjusted her icy weapons, she just nodded to the next thought.  
>Being defeated had never been an option as well.<p>

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Blood.

Blood slowly running on fresh fallen snow.

And a lonely, standing figure in the center of the raging storm. A woman. In her hands, a transparent bow, almost as if it was made of ice, and arrows to fill it with rage.

The Ice Queen stepped on, her hair waving in the wind, eyes fogged with anger and adrenaline.  
>Her legs came on the top of the hill, just as the moon rose in the sky.<br>Her figure, contrasted with that of the white globe, looked as nothing more than an empty, black template.  
>Empty and black as she was in the inside.<p>

She lowered her eyes, still standing fierce on a shard of rock emerging from the side of the mountain.  
>Thousands of men, advancing in the snow, tambourines drumming in a rhythmic admonishment, maybe directed to the unknown monster that roamed those lost lands, the Midnight Terror, the Heartless Slayer, the Frozen Sorceress, the Walking Damnation.<br>She almost laughed, thinking about all those epithets.  
>If they were just a little bit more clever, they would have understood that one name would have been more than enough to address that mysterious plague, or killer, or unknown scary tale.<br>And that name was The Ice Queen.

Her voice resounded in every man's head, taken and delivered by the winds, her loyal message bringers.  
>«Take one more step, and I'll have mercy with none of you. Not. A single. One».<br>And, of course, the army made of thousands of men stopped just like one.  
>Only one man, riding a white horse, dared to advance in front of the first row of soldiers.<p>

«WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU BAGS OF SCUM?! ARE YOU AFRAID OF A VOICE INSIDE YOUR HEADS? THERE IS A REASON IF THEY CALL US THE INVINCIBLE ARMY! GO ON, FOR FUCK'S SAKE! GO ON, OR I SWEAR I WILL HAVE ALL OF YOUR HEADS CUT BY TONIGHT ANYWAY!»

He waved his sword in the air, screaming and spitting mean words on each and every one of his soldiers.  
>She just whispered a few words more, and she could see every recruit shiver. And it wasn't from the cold. Not only.<p>

«Don't. Move».

She crossed her arms, arrows flickering against her back, and her braid twitched to the side, carried by the whirling snowstorm.  
>She waited.<p>

One.

No men dared to move a foot.

Two.

«ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! ARE YOU FUCKING SCARED OF SNOW?! DO YOU MISS MAMA AND PAPA AND THEIR LOVELY HUGS, YOU BASTARDS?!»

Three.

Total silence.

Four.

«I SWEAR TO WHATEVER GOD IS UP THERE, NONE OF YOU WILL GET BACK HOME ANYWAY TONIGHT! SO FUCKING TRY TO GAIN YOURSELF MERCY FROM ME!»

Five.

«...the only God up here is me, General».

The general's horse neighed in shock, and rose itself on his legs, kicking and darting his head to the side to get free from the man's strong hold.  
>He reacted promptly, kicking him at the sides and beating him with a speron.<br>The Ice Queen narrowed her eyes.  
>«WHO ARE YOU?! YOU COWARD, SHOW YOUR FACE AND FREE MY MEN FROM YOUR CURSE!»<br>«...I didn't curse anyone. You are cursing yourself. Stop, before I lose my mercy».  
>«FUCKING SHOW YOUR FACE, YOU BASTARD! I CAME RIGHT HERE TO FIND YOU! TO DEFEAT THE MONSTER THAT PLAGUES OUR LANDS!»<br>«...oh, you shouldn't have said that. And to all the men behind him: go away. Go. Away».  
>«I AM THE ONE GIVING ORDERS HERE! STAY THERE, YOU SCUMS, OR I WILL RIP YOUR HEADS OFF PERSONALLY AFTER TONIGHT!»<br>«There will be no after for you, general, unless you get on your knees and beg for pardon. I am giving you an escapade. Be wise enough to take it».  
>«I WILL NOT TAKE ORDERS FROM ANYONE, LET ALONE YOU!»<p>

The Ice Queen rolled her eyes, tilting her head backwards a little.  
>Then, she stretched one arm behind her and took her ice arrows.<br>Holding her crystal bow, she approached the end of the rock, knees bent to get nearer to the men standing in the endless snow desert under her feet.  
>She stared at each one of their faces, snow alerting all of her senses.<br>Fear. Terror. Worry.  
>Human expressions.<br>Human.  
>She told them to leave once again, and it was with a little satisfaction that she saw them retreating, bowing to the snow, disappearing just as they came.<p>

«DID YOU HEAR ME?! YOU MAY HAVE GOTTEN THOSE BALLS OF SHIT, BUT YOU WILL NEVER GET ME! I DON'T TAKE ORDERS FROM ANYONE, YOU BASTARD!»

She jumped down, her icy glare pointed on the man holding the heavy sword and the heavier ego.  
>What a fool.<br>As he noticed her, and smirked because hey, a woman, how frightening, she snapped her tongue and prepared her bow.  
>«You know, I used to say that too. What a fool was I, right?»<br>He stiffened his back, probably reassured by his shiny armour, and held his sword in attack position, getting down from his horse.  
>«So it's you. The Endless Icy Nightmare, our curse. A woman».<p>

She rolled her eyes again, and just as he rose his sword to get it down on her head, the bow shot.  
>And nothing is stronger than a magic arrow striking a vain armour.<br>As he kneeled down, rapidly succumbing under the pressure of the arrow's fatal poison, she kneeled to his side, shaking her head in fake disbelief.

«Mhh, mhh, mh. I'm afraid your thirst of undeserved fame and glory brought you to a deadly mistake».

He rose his head, trying to say something, but then he just spat at her feet, coughing some blood in the process.  
>She pressed a finger on her lips, lowering his head.<p>

«Shh. Don't move. You'll die faster».

He tried to grab his sword, but she stepped on his gloved hand before he could even move it.  
>She took the sword, admiring it's refined beauty in the moonlight, and cherished a new decoration for her throne.<br>Walking away, she tossed a golden coin at him.  
>«Charon doesn't like to work for free, you know, little vain one».<p>

She turned her head once again, before leaving, and smirked, blood

«You will never be able to repeat that mistake again, forgotten man: I am not a _woman_».

Silence.  
>The one that couldn't be broken anymore.<p>

«I am a _Queen_».

**ΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦ**

The Tavern's door opened with a strong gust of wind, icy flurries of air making their way between the tables and the attendants.  
>They all rose their heads, not moving of a single inch.<br>After all, each one of them knew what that wind and the cold silence preannounced.  
>Or, better, <em>who<em>.

The Ice Queen appeared on the doorstep, her slender and thin figure perfect and fierce as always.  
>Her eyes roamed for a bit over the presents. When, and only when everyone had bowed their heads in respect, she walked down the wooden steps that led into the local.<br>The chatter began again as soon as the door closed behind her back, and the woman approached her favourite bartender.  
>Scar cocked an eyebrow, grinning and showing his sharp teeth. She had never noticed that, but his canines were the closest thing to razors she had ever witnessed in someone's mouth. He looked like a feral lion, sometimes, and she even wondered if he didn't like fresh meat, just as they all metaphorically did, bur for <em>real<em>.  
>«Let me guess, a Royal Arrival?»<br>«How clever from you» she replied in a satisfied smirk, leaning on the wooden plank while she waited for her cocktail, one hand below her chin and the other resting on her inner elbow, like if she was holding a gun and not her own flesh, like if she was loading her favourite weapon and that was a gentle warning to everyone that dared to place eyes on her.  
>Tilting her head to the side, she nodded to Hades, who was standing near an empty table, and he grinned.<br>_Mission accomplished, Sir._  
>The Ice Queen almost laughed.<br>He always needed reassurance, like a little kid. He needed to know that everything was alright. Or, at least, he needed to hear that it was. And she was _more_ than right. She was _precise and meticulous_, whatever it was that she had to do.  
>And wasn't blood the same as red paint to build a landscape, after all?<br>Taking the first sip of her Royal Arrival, she tried to repress a stinging thought.  
>Was it right to <em>decide<em> who had to give her the paint?  
>Impersonating the hand of justice, the one who decreed who was worthy to live and who wasn't, when she was by far <em>the worst<em> being she had ever known?  
>Maybe she had let things get too carried away, by then. Maybe rage and despair had brought her there, and now she didn't know how to turn back and erase her steps.<br>But she was the Ice Queen, and queens never showed despair or disgrace. Not even if the disgrace were _they themselves_.  
>She was just following a list, after all, she decided while staring at her own glass, rocking it a bit between her slender, pale fingers.<br>She wasn't deciding, she was just _acting_.  
>And even though she liked to intimidate, to <em>rule<em>, she preferred things that way.  
>Letting Hades do the boring work, and enjoy the direct action.<p>

Because, she reckoned while turning and walking towards what seemed like the empty table Hades was standing by, _thinking itself_ was the only truly bad thing, in a world were thinking for an instant more meant not being able to think anymore. Ever.

Think, and you get killed without acting.  
>Act, and kill before thinking.<br>Kill, and think after you act.

Those were the general unwritten rules.  
>And, she thought when Facilier appeared, already mixing cards when she had sat down to her usual chair, the Ice Queen could oblige just for once to those rules.<br>The rules _she herself_ had set.

.

«Sometimes I wonder why I keep playing with you, Facilier».  
>«<em>Élémentaire<em>, because _Mademoiselle_ Elsa doesn't like to play alone».  
>«Right».<br>Hades snorted against his cards, desperately trying to put them in an order that would have made him lose in a more decorous way. The same was doing Jafar – who, Elsa had understood, was one of Facilier's favourite victims – sitting next to him. The Ice Queen, right in front of the illusionist, didn't show concern or disappoint in her eyes: she was a Queen, and a Queen does not show anything, ever.  
>«Time for showdown» Facilier grinned, settling the purple feather of his top hat and throwing a bunch of fiches in the middle of the table – wait, how many hands did he have? «Who's in, and who's out?»<br>Hades and Jafar looked torn. The sorcerer put his cards down.  
>«I'm out».<br>The God of the Dead hesitated, but he couldn't have bear the humiliation of showing his One Pair and so he sighed.  
>«I'm out too».<br>Facilier nodded slowly, as he was expecting that. His full attention revolved around Elsa.  
>«What about you, <em>cherie<em>? Are you in or out?»  
>Elsa looked straight at him with her shining icy eyes. Then she took the fiches she needed and tossed them on the table.<br>«I'm never out».

Facilier's smirk enlarged as he slowly put down his cards: two Tens – Hearts, Clubs – and three Jacks – Clubs, Spades, Diamonds.  
>«Full boat» he stated.<br>Elsa didn't roll her eyes or sigh or curse. She put down her cards with elegance, so calmly that Hades for a moment thought she may had a winning hand.  
>One Seven, the last Jack – Hearts – and then three Kings – Spades, Diamonds, Clubs.<br>«Three of a kind» she said, with a little amused grin. «You've won again».  
>«What a surprise» Hades muttered between his teeth.<br>Facilier let go of a brief maniacal laugh and he clapped two times at himself.  
>«Payment, <em>s'il vous plaît<em>».  
>Hades snorted, searched in his robe and then threw a sachet of coin to him, which the illusionist readily grabbed. Elsa twirled her fingers to create some ice coins too, but Facilier stopped her.<br>«Oh no, Elsa, please. I will never ask something so vile as money from a woman».  
>«But you do ask them from us…» Jafar questioned half aloud.<br>Facilier glared at him.  
>«You still aren't a woman, besides what they say about you» he hissed. «Three rupees, and don't try to cheat».<br>«Like you do?» Jafar replied, offended. He threw the gems on the table and stormed off.  
>«See you tomorrow, <em>sorceress<em>!» Facilier laughed behind his back. Hades imitated him.

Coughing a few times, Elsa regained the attention of the two men.  
>«You're a real gentleman, Facilier» she said. «But I already told you, I don't like to make debts».<br>«You're not making debts, believe me» the illusionist replied. «On the contrary, you're repaying me day after day».  
>Elsa cocked an eyebrow.<br>«I don't understand».  
>«Neither do I» Hades intervened.<br>«From you it's not a surprise» Facilier grinned at the God and Elsa laughed behind her hand. «And for you, Elsa, you don't have to worry. You'll understand».  
>The woman decided to nod and accept the illusionist's puzzling will. After all, it was not like she feared him. Even if he was tricking her, no one could escape her ice.<br>Hades got up saying he wanted something to drink and disappeared in the darkness. Facilier started to collect the cards on the table, and Elsa was about to walk away too when he talked again.  
>«Of course you couldn't win» he affirmed. «With such an useless card!»<br>Elsa looked down: he was pointing at the King of Diamonds.  
>She glared at the skinny man, confused.<br>«Is it useless?» she asked.  
>«Oh yes, it is» Facilier answered. He picked up the card and handed it to Elsa. «You can even rip it, if you want».<br>Elsa blinked a few times, more disoriented than before.  
>«I don't want to» she said.<br>«Are you sure?»  
>«Yes I am. Besides, the deck wouldn't be complete anymore».<p>

Facilier grinned from cheek to cheek. The King of Diamonds between his fingers disappeared, and in his other hand appeared the deck in perfect order, even if she hadn't seen him collecting all the cards.  
>He snapped his tongue.<br>«No one would ever notice it».

When Elsa found herself in front of the counter, next to Hades, she didn't exactly remember how she had walked up to there.

**ΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦ**

Sometimes Elsa forgot it, that there was a whole world outside the Tavern and Hades' reign. A world that didn't hide its filth under the Sun, but that when the Moon rose became even more disgusting and stinky.  
>Elsa hated it.<br>Had it been during one of those nights that they had taken _her_ life away?

«Hurry up, girls! Move your stupid ass, come back here!»

A woman around the fifty was screaming in the dark lanes from the doorway of which could easily be recognized as a brothel. She was wearing heavy make-up of a strong colour green, purple lipstick, and had the hair covered by a handkerchief to probably hide how messy they were. She wore a red dress that was clearly a couple of sizes smaller, and there was to wonder how she could even breathe. Her neck and her arms was covered by dozens of golden jewels. When she snarled, in her mouth shone a gold tooth.  
>«I said move your ass, bitches! How much time do you want to make me wait? Come on!»<br>One after another, ten or fifteen girls appeared running from different lanes. Each one of them wore very skimpy dresses and high heels, and it was easy to understand their work. They reached the brothel and handed the woman piles of money before fleeing inside.

The last girl, unfortunately for her, came from a lane that was in the sight of the woman, so that she could easily see her kissing passionately with a man – that should have only been her client – before running back to the whorehouse.  
>She grabbed the girl's arm and tightened on it.<br>«What is all this "kissing", now?»  
>«I was just doing my job» she replied.<br>«Don't tell me you fell _in love_, you useless brat! Who could ever love a whore like you?»  
>The girl freed her arm with a yank. If glares could kill, the procurer would have lied lifeless on the street.<br>The woman snarled.  
>«Give me my fucking money and disappear from my sight».<br>The other did as she wanted, clearly fighting the impulse of throwing the bills at her face, and then run up the stairs of the brothel.  
>The woman watched her closing the door of her room behind her, her hand so narrow around the bills that the big rings she wore on each fingers touched one another.<br>She glanced at the street one last time, shivering at the sudden drop of temperature, and closed the door without noticing a blonde shadow in the dark.

The procurer muttered something between her teeth, screamed to the girls to _shut the fuck up and go to sleep _even if not a single voice came from the upper floor and then, lighting up the candles, moved to the boudoir on the left to empty the last bottle of whiskey.  
>Wealth and gaudiness was emanated by every object in the room, the ornaments, the brown wallpaper, the yellow lining of the sofas, the false Persian carpet. Not even the whiskey was of good vintage, just to prove more than being rich doesn't make you a gentlewoman. If the money are made in <em>such ways<em>, then, they only make you worse than you already are.

The procurer sat on the sofa and almost sank on it, she poured the last drops of whiskey in the glass and drank it, leaving the mark of the purple lipstick on it.  
>She had grabbed the bottle to see if it was actually empty when the door opened at a strong gust of wind, that lighted off the nearest candles and made her shiver.<p>

«Well, what about that. You are such a pitiful view».

The woman turned around, but between darkness and wine she couldn't distinguish anything else than a feminine figure near the door.  
>«What the fuck are you doing there?» she barked. «Go back to you room, filthy whore!»<br>The shadow didn't move.  
>«I'm not one of your girls» she replied, her voice was a sweet melody of death. She walked a few steps in the room and came under the light of the remaining candles, that made her blonde hair shine.<br>Elsa smirked at the surprised expression of the woman.  
>«Better now, isn't it?»<p>

The procurer let go of the bottle and looked at her: she _surely_ was not one of her girls. She would have been even richer, if it was so.  
>«Then who are you?» she asked. «What do you want?»<br>Elsa didn't reply. She stretched one hand and closed it in a fist: the bottle of whiskey froze and then exploded, pieces falling on the carpet.  
>The woman became so pale that even the purple lipstick went lighter.<br>«Good lord» she whispered.  
>«Wrong answer» Elsa grinned, and started to walk around the room. «I'm the Icy Nightmare, The Frozen Curse, the Winter Slayer. But Ice Queen will do just fine».<p>

Elsa calmly sat on the sofa in front of the woman. When she could choose, she preferred to go finding her victims at their home. It was a lot better than killing them in a battling field. Sitting on the couch as it was hers, Elsa could now smell the fear and the terror from the procurer's body. She had all the time she needed to let them grow and feed the rage that flowed in her veins. It was a lot more satisfying.  
>Elsa waited until the woman found the courage to talk.<br>«W-What are you doing here?»  
>«Why, I'm here to kill you» the blonde answered without hesitation, and grinned at the panic that distorted the woman's face. «But I thought it could have been useful, first, seeing how you have wasted your miserable life. You spent money that you didn't earn. You exploited young girls, you forced them to do the things men didn't want to do with you, because you're not even good in <em>that<em>. You became rich thanks to them. _You spent the last ten years of your life forcing girls to fuck men_».  
>«I-»<br>«You're a disgusting piece of trash!» Elsa slammed her hand on the table between them and it froze in an instant. The woman let go of a little acute scream, but Elsa could see no remorse in her eyes. Just fear.  
>«You don't deserve to be alive».<p>

_Not that anyone else did.  
>But some of them were just… A waste<em>.

The procurer was trebling as a leaf. She put all the bills she could on the table and pushed them towards Elsa.  
>«L-Listen, I… I can pay you» she stuttered. «I have a lot of money. It's all yours. I-I can pay you as much as you want, just… Please…»<br>«Please?» Elsa cocked an eyebrow. It was unbelievable how coward people could be. «_You_ dare to beg _me_?»  
>«I just… Please, take everything you want, but please…»<br>«You're willing to pay to save your life. But how much is a life worth?» Elsa twirled her fingers and all the money on the table froze. The woman squeaked in horror. «How much is _your_ life worth?»

How much was _Anna's_ life worth?

The woman was shivering, mouthing "please" without a single sound coming out.  
>«I'll tell you, nothing. Your life is worth nothing. I don't want your money. I don't want anything from you. You may have thousands of jewels all over the body, but on the inside you have <em>nothing<em>. The only valuable things you have are the remaining days of your life. And this is what I came here to take».  
>Elsa stood up, a sharp icicles appeared in her palm. The woman pressed against the sofa, terrified.<br>«Please!» she cried. «Please, I – I can change! I will change, I will be a good person, I won't-»  
>«Oh, keep this lies for someone who will actually believe in them» Elsa hissed. «Now respect the other women who died in silence and do the same».<p>

And she actually did, because Elsa thrusted the blade in her chest with such precision that death took her before she could even scream.

A strong gust of window lighted off the candles, opened windows and doors in all the brothel and accompanied Elsa out of it, in the dark of the street. The blonde walked away, the wind brought at her ears – as the loyal servant it was – the words of the girls of the whorehouse.

«What happened?»  
>«I don't know».<br>«There's a storm coming?»  
>«Oh my god!»<br>«What's happening?»  
>«Come down here, quick!»<br>«Oh my god!»  
>«Is she…?»<br>«Oh good lord…»  
>«Great! Then let's go away!»<br>«But we should help her, maybe…»  
>«I don't give a fuck about her! That evil bitch can go all the way straight to Hell for me!»<p>

And Elsa laughed, walking down the street, because it didn't matter in what shape Evil decided to blossom, if a cruel king or a coward woman or a God with a flaming head or a young queen with platinum hair.

Evil was _always_ halfway to Hell.

**ΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦ**

_A light rain drizzle._

_«Do you think that Ulysses really missed his home, Elsa?»_

_The blonde rose her eyes from the book she was peacefully reading, blue irises landing on the girl lying stomach flat on a green mint scented carpet.  
>It had been a rough day, full of paperwork and diplomatic meetings, and she had dreaded the night like the sea missed the shore. That was her favourite time of the day, the time when everyone stopped compelling to their duties and went to sleep, leaving the castle in the calmest and utmost silence she could experience. The time when her composed facade disappeared, and she could be like that, simply lying on a velvet sofa in front of a lit fireplace, reading a book that didn't concern economic trades between kingdoms, sipping hot chocolate, the most wonderful person in the world lying on the carpet, trying to decide whether she preferred the Odyssey or the Iliad.<br>Anna swung her legs in the air, bare feet moving back and forth, both hands under her chin to keep her eyes fixed in her sister's ones.  
>Elsa closed her volume, fingers kept between pages to avoid losing her line, and adjusted her position on the couch, the warm blanket over her legs making her movements a bit more complicated.<br>Cold doesn't bother me, Anna, I told you already.  
>But it's raining outside! How can you say no to a blanket and hot chocolate cups?<em>

_«Why do you ask, Anna?» she inquired, slightly tilting her head when she noticed the redhead wasn't even reading the Odyssey: she had an ancient fairytale in front of her elbows, one that didn't concern wise Greek myths at all.  
>Anna shrugged her shoulders, fidgeting with the page's edges, and Elsa almost told her to stop, because she could cut herself, but then she remembered that Anna had managed to survive without her for so much time, and she wouldn't have needed her now in any case.<br>Obviously, Anna proved her wrong.  
>«Ouch!»<br>And before she could mutter another word, obviously, Elsa was kneeled in front of her, delicately examining the papercut, eyes teary and mind cursing herself because be damned her closed mouth and her own thoughts.  
>But she kept control, and she didn't say anything, an ice patina slowly covering the wounded area, ice covering the damage and lessening the slight pain.<em>

_«Hey, Els, don't worry, it's just a papercut! I endured worse, you know?» Anna joked, shaking her head in mocking disapproval.  
>«Said the girl who threw a tantrum just this morning because she wouldn't get her double portion of chocolate.»<br>«But that was not a wound, that was pure torture! How can someone even think of depriving me of chocolate? Talk crazy.»  
>They chuckled, briefly, before Anna resumed reading her tale and Elsa lied her back against the lower couch, blanket over her shoulders, feet plants warming near the sparkling fireplace.<br>It was true, she admitted to herself, giving up on the book and simply enjoying the sight of the crimson flames in front of her. Anna had endured worse. Anna had broken half the armors of the castle. Anna had broken her fingers and had asked for medication without a single tear, when they were little. Anna had learned to ride a bike on her own. Anna had overcame the shock of discovering her sister's terrifying powers. Anna had endured the pressure of a whole kingdom asking her about her gone, irresponsible sister. Anna, frail, gentle Anna, had climbed a whole mountain with the only help of a reindeer and his bulky, bizarre owner. Anna had endured the hurt of a betrayal from the man she believed to be her true love. Anna had talked to a closed door for all her life.  
>True. Her sister had faced worse things than a papercut.<br>And whose fault was that? Easy answer.  
>Elsa removed the blanket from over her, holding it in her hands.<br>She landed her blue irises on the redhead, fully wrapped up in her reading.  
>Anna wasn't a silent reader, not at all: she would gasp in shock, hold her breath soundly, hiss at the pages, every emotion the words gave her clearly showing on her features. She was a lively person, always swollen up in doing something, always involved in a new wild, improbable plan. She was the first to fall asleep and the last to wake up, and although she wouldn't have admitted it, Elsa knew she still liked to sleep with her teddy bear sometimes, especially when it rained. She knew it, simply and clearly because when Anna had nightmares, or simply when she felt like her bed was too big for a person alone, she would knock on her bedroom's door, releasing her held breath when Elsa would open it, and then they would sleep together, locks of hair intertwined and fingers linked under covers. And then, waking up in the morning, Elsa would always spot that consumed, little teddy bear beside her bed, left there when Anna found her, and her skin, and her embrace in the darkness of the midnight hours.<br>She was Anna's new teddy bear, somehow, and she couldn't say she disliked it at all.  
>Elsa had been craving physical contact for a lifetime, starting from those days she so much tried to avoid remembering, the day when everything she knew disappeared, and everything she had became a pair of gloves and a window to watch her sister grow up. Without her.<br>She had been so closed in herself, so emotionally inept that she had completely forgotten what it felt like to be touched by someone, in every single way. To feel a hand on her shoulder, reassuring her that she had done her best. To have someone poke her cheek, huffing a little. To feel her hands brushing red hairlocks. To be held by two warm, caring arms.  
>She had forgotten how to be present, to be human, and Anna was teaching her again, time after time.<em>_  
>Anna had taught her how to have fun again, how to appreciate the little things in life, how to cope with sad moments with a bar of chocolate. Anna had brought her to life.<br>And now there she was, swinging her legs in the air, brow furrowed while she read about a mermaid and her undying love at first sight. Irony. Her mostly disliked aspect of life._

_«Oh, come on! How can you give your own voice to a witch? Are you nuts?!»  
>«Anna, vocabulary» she tried to reprimand, but failed between amused chuckles, covering her mouth with her fingers.<br>Anna looked up at her, making a goofy face, puffing her cheeks and then going back to her story.  
>She had a beautiful voice- velvet- and when she walked she looked like she was dancing on the air. She was impossible to stop looking at. Sometimes, without a reason, she liked to start running in the halls, going who knew where, on red carpets and through thick drapes, she started running, and Elsa was pretty sure she was running just to feel the air on her face, through her hairlocks, light as a candle blow.<br>Anna didn't walk. She danced on the world.__  
>She danced while occasionally tripping and breaking whatever she had in hand, true, but still.<br>Anna was everything she wasn't- warm, gentle, caring, kind hearted, wonderful.__  
>Anna was the sun.<br>And she had missed it her whole life._

_«Elsa?»  
>«Yes?»<br>«You didn't answer to my question.»  
>«The one about Ulysses?»<br>The redhead nodded._

_Elsa opened the blanket, making room for the younger girl as she nudged to her side, the book now closed and placed on the sofa. They watched the fire spark for a while, and she felt Anna's arms wrap around her waist, her head resting on her shoulder._

_«I think he did. Otherwise, he wouldn't have tried to get back so hard, don't you think so?»  
>«Yes, but why leave in first place? Why did he have to leave his beloved ones just like that, for a war. It's just sad.»<br>Anna squeezed her waist in an instinctive movement, and Elsa held her breath. Why, she didn't know.  
>Or maybe, she was just hiding it. Retarding it as much as possible.<br>She perfectly knew what the question was. It was the answer, she was missing._

_«I think he left because he thought it was for the better.» she replied, while Anna yawned briefly, eyes trying to close against her will. «Maybe he thought that it was what needed to be done for everyone, what he had to do, even if he didn't want to. He simply left. But I am sure he missed home. It was his home, after all.»  
>«Just like you are mine.»<br>It was nothing more than a mumbling, an instinctive reply, barely audible over the slow cracking of the crimson flames in front of them.  
>But it was enough for her.<em>

_They say it can happen anytime, in every circumstance and with anyone.  
>They say that at the beginning you won't even be able to name it, to place it clearly or even to notice it happening.<br>A strange feeling, dwelling inside you._

_Elsa turned her head to Anna, her hair bare inches from her lips.  
>The flames made her tanned skin look golden, almost burned by the crimson rays of sun, dotted freckles like constellations that just waited to be fathomed with a brush of a finger. Her eyelids fluttered when her eyes finally closed, and she released a deep breath, making her ivory complexion shiver, and it wasn't from the cold. Her hands clasped Elsa's waist, holding to it like it was all they wanted to feel under their touch, and she just closed her eyes too, cheek resting on Anna's head, their fingers liked and their limbs intertwined.<em>

_She could see her perfectly even with her eyes shut.  
>Anna's teal eyes, her bright smile, her joyful laugh. The way she waved her hands in the air when she talked about something that enthused her, her constant rambling about chocolate and anything sweet. How she always put on her left shoe first, lingering a bit on the laces because she still had to concentrate to do them properly. Her collarbones, the way they held her embraces, the way they showed her breath. The sound of her voice echoing through the halls. Her eyes full of tears when she had nightmares and came to her door, desperate for an opening and amazed when it actually happened. Her teddy bear. The way she treated everyone with the same respect and gentleness, her warm and kind being. Her fingertips and her way of turning pages. How she stirred hot chocolate. The way the fireplace brought out the red in her air.<br>Everything about Anna.  
>Anna.<em>

_«Goodnight» she whispered, more to herself than anyone else in that world, in that kingdom, in that ancient library.  
>«'night, Elsa» came the sudden reply, and Anna rose her head, eyes still closed, placing a brief kiss on her mouth's corner.<em>

_They remained like that for a bit, eyes closed, Elsa's heart beating like a hummingbird in her chest.  
>It could happen at any time, in any place, with anyone.<br>And sometimes, the person you so long dreaded for, the one who will always be by your side no matter what, the one who will make you believe you can stand on mountains and walk through the fields, is the one who was beside you all along.  
>It could happen.<br>Realization.  
>And that night, it happened.<br>In the castle, in an ancient library, in front of a lit fireplace, realization came like the rain falling outside._

_«I love you» Elsa whispered, eyes closing as well.  
>Rain kept falling outside, covering everything with its sound.<br>But they were safe.  
>She was Anna's home, and Anna was hers.<br>And she needed no further journeys, for that night at least, when all she had ever wished lied in her arms, whispering the answer she had secretly hoped to hear._

_«I love you too, Elsa» Anna whispered, kissing her mouth's corner again._

_And it was more than enough.  
>It was home.<br>And home was everywhere she wanted to be.  
>They feel asleep, her mind full of worried and fears and questions she would have dealt with the following day.<br>In that single, bubbled moment, guilt wasn't considered, and she simply enjoyed the feeling of Anna's fingers linked to hers, like Elsa's heart had always, hopelessly been._

_**ΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦ**_

Hades found Elsa in the Throne Room, kneeled in front of the Hounds of Tartarus: the dogs were licking her hands and rubbing against her arms. Elsa was smiling quietly.  
>She didn't even hear the God approaching, or if she did, she didn't give him the satisfaction to see her looking him bottom up.<br>«You'll spoil those stupid dogs» he grumbled. Elsa didn't raise her head, caressing one of the hounds behind the ear.  
>«The shower is broken again» she said.<br>«Again?!» Hades sighed. «I told Pain and Panic to fix it!»  
>«That's why it's still broken».<br>The God lit up a cigar and puffed a cloud of smoke. Noticing Elsa's little smirk, however, made him frown.  
>«Is there possibly a way in which your statement and your actions are connected?» he guessed.<br>Elsa petted the dogs another time and then stood up, only then glaring at him straight in the eyes.

«Well, the blood had to go away from my hands in a way or another».

Hades remained immobile while the Hounds continued to rub against the blonde's legs. He always forgot that the Ice Queen was born to surprise him.  
><em>Every fucking day<em>.

He decided to not reply and he got immediately to the point.  
>«There is another man you have to go killing».<br>«You could have told me before» Elsa laughed. «Who is him?»  
>«An old cruel king. You will find everything you need to know on the list» and he made it appear, and handed it to Elsa.<br>«Wonderful».

Hades walked past her and sat on his throne, circles of smoke from the cigar following his path. The woman read the papyrus and then turned around to face him.  
>«Where does he live?» she asked. «It's not written here».<br>«Oh, well, don't worry» Hades belittled. «You know Charon can take you wherever you desire. Just ask him».  
>Elsa frowned, suspicious.<br>«Is there something you're not telling me?» she investigated.  
>Hades breathed away the smoke and rolled his eyes.<br>«Here we go again».  
>«Excuse me?»<br>«You and your conspiracy theories. You killed dozens of them and you didn't even know their names, and now that I forgot to put the place you think I'm planning something!» he smirked. «_Chill_, dear».  
>Elsa snarled, but didn't say anything. She turned around, the cloak flying behind her, and walked towards the gates. She stopped to open them with a gust of cold wind, and in the same time Hades' cigar froze, forcing him to open the mouth and let it fall on the floor.<br>«Stop smoking those» Elsa hissed. «I hate the smell».

Hades laughed a little as the woman went away.

**ΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦ**

They say when a good thing is made you should not tell anyone, because what really matters is that _you_ know you're a good person.  
>But when you do a bad thing, well, it's different.<p>

You're evil only when everyone knows it.

«So, what do we have here?»  
>The King raised his white eyebrow, looking at the man that his guards had tossed at his feet.<br>«This peasant, My King» one of them spoke, «is not paying taxes since two months».  
>«Please!» the man begged, joining his hands and bowing until his nose touched the floor. «Please, I have no money at the moment! But give me just another month, and I'll pay everything! I swear!»<br>The King stroke his short white beard, slowly drumming the fingers of the other hand on the throne's armrest. His green eyes shone with a twinkle of malignancy.  
>«You'll pay me much earlier, and much easier» he grinned: «with your life».<br>He then turned to the guards.  
>«Take him to the public gallows» he ordered. «And make sure the noose is tough! I don't want a disaster as the last time».<br>«Yes, Sir».  
>The guards grabbed the man by his arms and picked him up.<br>«No!» the peasant screamed. «No, please, please don't kill me! I beg you! I have a wife and two children, what are they gonna do? Please, spare me! Please! Please!»  
>«Make him shut up!» the King snorted. He put one hand to his ear as the guards dragged the man out of the Throne Room, exiting by the gate on the right. When the door closed behind them, the King released a breath of satisfaction.<br>He scratched his sideburns – one time they had been brown, but now they were grey, almost white – and looked around the room with a little smirk. The walls were upholstered with portraits of him, valuable paintings and dozens of stuffed animal's heads. Reindeers, especially. He hated reindeers.

The King sneezed and tightened in his old blue coat. How come it was so cold in there? He couldn't get ill, because a sick King shows weakness. And he had no weakness, on the contrary, he was powerful and unbeatable, he had ruled his kingdom for almost fifty years and he would have ruled it for fifty more.  
>He had built a realm killing and cheating and deceiving and killing again. It was something he didn't regret at all – but something he couldn't leave. It had been the dream of his life and nobody, nobody would have taken it away from his hands!<p>

He smirked and wished to have a mirror to admire himself: oh, he wasn't young anymore, and he had gained weight, but he was still handsome.  
>No one ever dared to tell him otherwise, after all.<p>

He shivered and frowned, ready to call the guards and ask them who had been so stupid to forget to close the windows, but he had just opened his mouth when the door on the left opened and one of the guards appeared. The King heard screams coming from the hallway and the temperature in the Throne Room fell in a matter of seconds. The guard had a look of pure terror on the face.  
>«M-My King» he panted, «she's here».<br>«She?» the King frowned, confused. «She who?»  
>A moment after, the guard was dead.<p>

Dead, struck in the chest by something that the King first identified with a sword and then realized it was an icicle, a sharp icicle shot from the hallway. An explosion of red stained the guard's uniform, and when he fell on the floor life had already left him.  
>The King remained immobile on the throne, shocked. The screams had stopped, and in the silence that had replaced them he could hear steps: slow steps approaching at the rhythm of death.<p>

A pair of feet entered the room, climbing over the guard's corpse with grace and raising the black cloak between two fingers to not stain it with blood. A crystal laugh accompanied all of this.

«Guards: they say they will protect you with their life, but the only thing they succeed in doing is dying with you».

The King face became pale as his hair. He stood up, clenching at the coat as shivers of cold and fear ran through his spine, and blinked more times, trying to see something different of what he had in front of his eyes. His breath went irregular. He had lived this scene dozens of times in his worst nightmares, but now that he was awake, that it was real, he actually was surprised when he remembered the name.

«Elsa».

The blonde woman raised her head, blue icy eyes meeting his. She smirked.  
>«Oh, what an honour. I see you already know who I am. But I'm afraid you forgot something…»<br>She twirled her hand and the next thing the King knew, there was an icicle nailed on the wall a few inches next to his cheek. When he cautiously moved his eyes to see, he realized the icy blade was pinned on one of his portraits, just in the chest. He gulped.

«It's _Queen Elsa_ for you».

The King remained still as the woman started walking around the room, the echo of her hills filling the silence.  
>«So, so, so» she grinned, «you have a quite luxurious royal palace. Mine, of course, it's better. And look at all this portraits!» she turned around, giving him the cold shoulder. «Vain, aren't we? You look better here on the wall than in three dimensions».<br>Elsa didn't have to hear the steps. She just knew. She turned around with her palm open and shot ice behind her: the King stepped back and the sword fell on the ground, frozen.  
>Elsa snapped her tongue.<br>«You don't know me as much as it seemed» she grinned, «if you think I'm so easy to kill».  
>The King bit his lip and flinched until he was against the throne again. The fear was making his heart running faster and faster.<p>

_She was different from what he remembered, or the memory was failing him_.

Elsa moved her braid back with one hand and then twirled two fingers, a paper made of thin ice appeared and flowed in midair in front of her.  
>«So, let's see the way you spent your life…» she smirked. «You tried to conquer a realm, but failed miserably. So you decided to conquer your own kingdom, instead. And in order to do so you murdered all your brothers. How many were them? I bet you needed a lot of venom to poison them all» she licked her finger and slid it on the icy paper. «Then, then… You murdered one of your business associates because he refused to accept your conditions; you pushed another one down a cliff for the same reason; you cut off the head of an ambassador – no, wait, of two ambassadors – while they were <em>eating<em>. Ew. Disgusting».

She looked at the King for a moment to see the shock and the fear on his face, then continued reading.  
>«You sent to the gallows hundreds of innocent people; you set on fire a man and saw him burning in this exact room, in front of your throne – funny, I know someone who has the same fetish; you raped lots of women; you – ugh, no. I'm not gonna read this. Murder, murder, murder… A bit monotone, aren't you?» she smirked. «You sure are on the naughty list».<br>Elsa blew on the icy paper and it disappeared. In the meantime, icicles grew from the ceiling and hang over the King's head as Damocles' swords.  
>The man took a deep breath.<br>«Listen, I… I know you hate me, but-»  
>«Hate you?» Elsa interrupted him, raising an eyebrow. «I don't hate you. Not personally. I hate you just as I hate all the others».<br>«B-But aren't you here for your vengeance…?»  
>Elsa bursted out in a sharp laugh.<br>«You have a really big ego» she said. «Do you think to be worse than others, or to be the first I kill? You're not, old King. You are just one of my list, a number between many. You're nothing special. And you have never been».  
>The King frowned, confused.<br>«But if I'm on your list, then… My name…»  
>«You're annoying me with all this small talk» Elsa spat, the icicles on the ceiling grew longer and the King covered his head with the hands. «I don't know your name just as I didn't know the names of the others. I don't care. <em>You all<em> should know _my_ name, not the contrary. For me, you are just wicked beings to exterminate. You are just numbers – all what you deserve to be».

And the King realized something he hadn't truly understood until that moment.  
><em>She didn't know him<em>.

And this gave him new strength, at least in words. Because if he had to die – but he wouldn't have died. He was the King. He was unbeatable. Wasn't he? – he would have made her suffer, first.  
><em>He knew he could do it<em>.

«So you think _I'm_ wicked?» he said, scratching his sideburns. «And what about you? You go around killing people too, you destroyed entire villages, I know who you are. Your name is the Ice Queen, now. You kill me, and then what will you do? You'll go saving the man I sent to the gallows just to pretend you're good? Well, you're not. You're wicked too!»  
>«I never said I wasn't» Elsa replied calmly, which he didn't expect. «And no, I won't go saving that man. I don't care about him. I didn't come here to saves lives, I came here to kill you. And this is what I will do».<br>The King gulped. Her eyes.  
>So cold.<br>So _different_ from what his memory told him.

«And by what right did you come to kill me?» he tried again. «Why do you think you are so special to decide life and death? If you kill me, then you'll be just the same as me».  
>«Oh, how little you know» Elsa laughed. «I'm not deciding anything. I'm just making sure that fate goes as it has. And –as in many other things – you're wrong: I'm not the same as you».<br>«And what makes you so different, _Ice Queen_?» he spat at her feet with disgust.  
>The woman just raised an eyebrow, looking at him as an ant under a magnifier: an armless being without escape.<p>

«Because I'm a Monster» she said. «And you – you're just a villain».

The King brief hope vanished and he shivered. He couldn't break her. She was as cold and strong as her ice.  
>Elsa raised one hand: little snowflakes formed on her open palm, creating a sharp icicle in abeyance at few inches over her hand. It was clear where that blade would have ended.<br>«So, tell me» she said: «will you die as a coward, or as a lion?»  
>The King did not hesitate: he had never been a wolf, but only a sheep in disguise. He looked at the door on the right and, in a last attempt to save his life, ran towards it.<br>Elsa didn't waste energies moving. She rolled her eyes.  
>«Of course».<p>

He surely wasn't the first one doing so.  
>He was nothing special, nor in good nor in bad.<p>

Elsa stepped on the floor: at her order, a wall of icicles appeared from the ground, one blade after another, and ran faster than how the King could. When the man reached the door the ice had already covered it, blocking his only way out.  
>The King turned around, his eyes were the expression of the fear. The same face the peasant probably had in that same moment, one instant before the floor collapsed under his feet and the noose took his life away.<br>«See? We're different» Elsa grinned. «I don't hit from behind».

When Elsa wished to be seen as evil, her icicles moved fast, but not so fast to not be seen. They ran at the same speed as the victim's heartbeat.  
>But when Elsa wanted to show she was a Monster, there was not need of witness.<br>The King didn't see Elsa throwing the icicle, or it moving towards him. The woman hadn't even closed his mouth that he had opened his to release a scream of pain: in the middle of his chest, the icy blade had turned red by his own blood.

The King fell on the frozen ground, gasping. Blood soiled the crystal ice, red and light blue mixing together as the most lustful and prohibited of things.  
>Elsa rolled her eyes.<br>«Don't be such dramatic. I didn't even hit the heart. I gifted you of two minutes more of life – in pain, but this is what you deserve, after all».  
>The King turned his head and, surprisingly, grinned. It may had also been a simple smile, but since he was used to grin, this was what came out.<br>«Do you really think» he moaned, and Elsa had to walk closer to hear him, and she just did so because she never left a body until it was dead cold, «you can go on and kill and leave desolation behind for the rest of your existence?»  
>Elsa shrugged.<br>«I see no future, so it's better if I draw my own» she replied. «And blood is the best pigment to drop on a white canvas, King».  
>The man coughed red. One minute was gone.<br>«You know, you are still as beautiful as you were.»

And here was were Elsa frowned, and got closer, because she was sure she had heard wrong.  
>«I'm sorry?» she asked.<br>«Your beauty» came the reply, in a hoarse whisper. «Eternal. Your youth. Your power. Things I couldn't achieve even if» red cough, again, «even if I tried so hard and so cruelly».  
>Elsa didn't actually realize it, but her own heartbeat had started to walk faster. Behind her, the icicles on the ceiling were growing bigger.<br>«I don't know what you mean» she said. «I've just met you».  
>A brief, last, bitter laugh.<br>«You better not marry me, then».  
>And the second minute was gone.<p>

But while the King's eyes closed, Elsa's ones widened.  
>The degrees in the Throne Room started to fall down again, one by one, as her eyes ran all over the corpse of the King, in search of something that could have told her she was wrong.<br>That Hades wouldn't have sent her there without telling her anything.

His coat.  
>His eyes – they were green when they were open.<br>His wicked grin.  
>His white hair.<br>His sideburns.

Elsa didn't have to look at the one portrait she hadn't lean the eyes on, the one she had struck with the blade when she had entered. She knew.  
>She knew.<p>

.

Behind her, the icicles crashed on the floor.

.

.

Elsa stepped back.

.

.

.

.

.

«Hans?!»

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

.

.

.

.

.

...a wild plot twist appeared.


	7. δέος - Fear

Fear

Ꭷ

**δέος**

Ꭷ

_I think that if you don't fear, you aren't able to love, neither._

* * *

><p><em>«Hans?!»<em>

.

.

.

.

Elsa entered the Throne Room in the same way a lioness jumps and starts to run after his prey: the gates opened and she appeared, hair fluttering at the wind she herself created, rage in her eyes and dry blood on her fingers.

Many were the questions and so many the answers she demanded.

The Hounds of Tartarus immediately reached for her, but stepped back when they realized that the Queen of the Underworld, this time, didn't have time to waste on them: she was searching for the King, and unfortunately her search had led to unsatisfying results.

The throne next to hers was empty. Not completely, actually: there were Hades' little imps on it, jumping from one armrest to the other and hanging up to the back and laughing. They were so invested in their games that didn't even notice Elsa's arrival.  
>Pain stood up, swelled the chest and coughed, while Panic put one hand on his mouth to deaden the laughs. Then Pain said, clearly aping Hades: «I'm the true King of the Underworld, the merciless God of the Dead, and you shall all bow to me!»<br>They both laughed, holding their belly.

«You both are just as pathetic as him».

Pain and Panic jumped a meter or two, turning into worms and rats and bugs before falling on the ground in their original shapes again.  
>«M-My Queen!» they whined, bowing and squashing on the floor at her feet. «We didn't hear you arrive! We are unspeakably sorry, our only desire is to-»<br>«Keep all this stupid babbling for Hades» Elsa cut them off. Then, in a snarl: «_By the way_, where is him?»

Pain and Panic gulped, looking at each other.  
>«W-Won't you prefer to s-shower first, my Queen? You must be really tired and-»<p>

Elsa grabbed Pain by his tail and raised him in midair, turning his words in an high scream of surprise.  
>«Don't you <em>try<em> to play games with me» she hissed. «I asked you a question, useless imp».  
>Pain sputtered incoherent words, looking at the deadly glare of the Ice Queen upside down and swaying as a pendulum.<br>«I-I don't know!» he finally said.  
>In reply, Elsa slammed him on the ground. The little devil fell between the Hounds of Tartarus who immediately growled and started to walk in circles around him, waiting for the simple order of the blonde to attack.<p>

«Nonsense!» Elsa exclaimed, imperious, her voice echoed in the room. «Hades never goes anywhere without telling someone. Now, do you tell me where he is» she turned to Panic, «or do I have to be more convincing?»  
>The veiled threat was enough for the thinner imp to shiver as a leaf.<p>

«The Prairies of Melancholy!» he confessed. «He's there, b-but he doesn't want to be disturbed!»  
>«Y-Yeah!» Pain confirmed, turning in a fly to escape the dogs and changing back when he reached his companion. «He said he's preparing a surprise!»<br>Elsa cocked an eyebrow.

«Oh, he'll be surprised, that's for sure».

Her cloak flew behind her as she went away, confident and aggressive steps, leaving Pain and Panic to shiver in the cold room.

ᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧ

Hades rested his back on the trunk of his favourite oak, the grey one. He snapped his fingers rhythmically, lighting and turning off little flames on his palm.  
>He wondered what time it was. Probably around midnight.<br>Midnight.  
>Huffing faintly, he thought that by that time she had to be over with her duties.<br>He wondered if she was sitting on the throne, waiting for him with icy irises and an even colder temper.  
>Maybe she had just shrugged it off, and she hadn't been affected by that man's identity at all.<br>She always found ways to surprise him, time after time.

An icicle appeared from nowhere, stabbing the wood right beside his ear.  
>He smirked.<br>Apparently, that wouldn't have been one of those times.  
>The Ice Queen stood fiercely in front of him, moonlight covering her pale skin like the sweetest honey. However, the bitterness of her glare, her posture, her balled fists and clenched jaw didn't suggest she had come there to have some little chat.<p>

«Why.»  
><em>Oh, darlin', so predictable.<em>  
>When he didn't answer, his arms kept crossed on his chest like the question didn't deserve his attention, she took a step closer.<br>The God of the Underworld didn't even flinch, and shrugged his shoulders.  
>But she wasn't willing to accept that.<br>Another icicle cut the air in its run, missing his neck of what seemed as a millimeter when it stabbed the wood, its surface still vibrating for the strenght of the hit.  
>She gritted her teeth, and her voice sounded like a low growl, the sound lionesses make before attacking their preys without a single hint of mercy.<br>Lionesses attack when they are hungry. And she was ravenous for answers.  
>«I said» and ice climbed on the trees, the grass, every single rock in the Underworld. «Why».<br>Elsa wasn't a person who lost control so easily. The frozen landscape showed all but a little drop of the turmoil she was feeling in those moments.  
>It wasn't for the God's dramatic attitude, not at all: she had learned to cohabitate with his behaviour, his tendency to constantly act like if the world was a stage, and he was an actor invested in his personal monologue, in need to show the whole audience his worth, that he was irreplaceable, unique. She was used to that.<br>What she wasn't used to, was the complete blankness.  
>The total and utter absence of a personal theory or thought concerning his actions, or of any other being surrounding her in that Land.<br>If he sent her to eliminate armies, it was because he wanted to fill the Underworld and get rid of potential bothers. If he sent her to meet sinners, it meant he was just accomplishing to his duties. Not moving a single finger and leaving the work to her, of course, but still.  
>Yet, somehow, this time she couldn't place him.<p>

Maybe he had sent her there just to erase another name from the list.  
>Maybe he didn't even know who that one was.<br>What he had done.

Or, maybe, he exactly knew.

And considering that much more probable option, she had mentally listed the possible reasons for him to make her do it.  
>She had found none.<p>

«Oh, dear, you are so weak» he finally said, and his voice was not a hasty or attacking one. It was not surprised at all, almost amused, pitiful.  
>Hades lighted himself a cigar, grabbing a red poppy and slowly burning it between his fingers. When the flames stopped, he only had ashes in his hands.<br>«You always said you wanted revenge, dearie, did you change your mind so fast?»  
>She narrowed her blue irises, piercing him with a sharp glare.<br>«You know it's not the point at all, here».  
>She never rose her voice. She could hate well enough with her eyes.<br>Hades laughed, soundly and sternly, showing his razor teeth. His dark pupils landed on her, her tiny figure, so frail and yet so powerful.  
>It somehow amused him, how little and delicate the Ice Queen was. A china doll. He could have snapped her in half with the movement of one hand, and yet he hadn't.<br>Because no matter what, no one ever got to arm distance with the Ice Queen, and no one who did was still alive to tell it.  
>«Oh, Els, but that's exactly the point» he stated, getting closer to her.<br>She stretched one arm towards his standing body, eyebrows furrowed and eyes narrowed as a broken arrow. It was a warning, and he smirked, because the Ice Queen never warned you, if she really wanted to take action on your remaining days and erase them with a gust of wind.

«You see» he began, making each finger meet with its other hand correspondent, his mocking smile promptly disappearing, his tone serious and bereft of every dramatic farce. «We all reach that point, somewhere, where we have to stop proving things to others and start proving them to ourselves, for a chance. The only way to figure out who we are, what we are doing and gonna do, is to prove things to ourselves».  
>He reached her, and began walking in the opposite direction, towards the endless plain prairies of grey grass and crimson flowers of the Underworld.<br>He walked slowly enough to let her turn around and stand by his side, measuring the warm ashes with her sharp steps.  
>«I don't get what's your point. Why did you send me, Hades? You always sent me for bigger preys, as you said. But you also told me that emotions aren't considered, down here. That emotions are the venom in our veins, that the ones like us must never think and act, to survive. Then why me?».<br>He turned his head to her, hearing her whispers.  
>Those were by far his favourite moments. The moments when the Ice Queen disappeared, and someone else, someone human came to life again. In those instants the cold and<br>dangerous facade she put on, like everyone in that world, shattered in a million pieces and revealed her doubts, her flaws, her insecurities.  
>He had learned by himself that hiding demons inside for too long was the worst thing one could do. They would come out at night and eat your heart.<br>And they lived in an eternal night. How ironic.  
>«Why <em>not<em> you, darlin'?».  
>He liked her, after all. She wasn't like the others, not at all. She had never been.<br>Sometimes, he still saw her lost and desperate expression in that white clearing, when he had first met her. And sometimes he still saw it, in moments like that one he was living.  
>She had changed so much on the outside, but he knew that her inner self had remained the same. Indeed, covered from layers of cruelty and concentrated anger, but the lost and broken girl of that night was there, never fading like a masterpiece painting.<br>Rage and shock change people. He knew that. And the pain, the sorrow of a loss make people do things they would have never expected to do.  
>Some become get void inside and give up on living. Others bear the scars forever. They can drown in the pain caused by them, or become aggressive. Enraged. Lose themselves and embrace their dark side.<br>Had she lost herself?

Elsa closed her eyes, fingers slowly rubbing them.  
>She looked tired, like if she needed to sleep. But for those of their kind, sleeping meant being tormented by demons and nightmares. And, maybe, not waking up ever more.<br>Still observing her, he noticed the dark circles under her eyes, grey splitted moons tiring her perfect features.  
>Was she afraid of going to sleep, maybe?<p>

«Listen, I just want to know why. Nothing more. Not your useless puns, nor your articulated speeches or annoying actor antics. Why, Hades».  
>He stopped, hands crossed behind his back, and there the Ice Queen was again. <em>Welcome back, darlin', were you stabbing some necks before?<em>

«Sometimes we keep drowning in our past, seeing old images, being haunted by memories. If you want to be a part of a bigger plan, to mean something in this world, dearie, you have to leave your past behind, or learn to do it while you try and try again. You need to find a way to go on. You need to stop being terrified by your own memories and find the strength to step down from the bed, day after day. Some scars burn stronger than others. Some are on our skin, but the ones that hurt the most are inside. Some scars never heal. They never will. But you can try to lessen the pain».  
>He tentatively placed one hand on her shoulder, and relaxed a bit when he saw she didn't retreat, or more likely stab his fingers.<p>

«And killing people from my past is one of the ways, according to you?» she replied, cocking her eyebrow in her usual way, arms crossed and back still for his touch. She didn't slide away, though, and that meant that under all her mocking carelessness she wanted answers.

«Killing memories is one of the drastic ways, yes. But that wasn't the reason. The reason was to make you prove something to yourself. It's easy to kill a name on a list. It's a bit less easy to remove an element of your past. You definitely proved you are one of us, darlin', the ones without a reason to exist during the day. You are a misfit. A misfit born when it lost a piece of itself. But you are here, see? You erased one of your pieces with your own hands. And you are here. You could give up on memories and start again. All over. Embrace this reality and never look back. Consider that».

«So this was a kind of test?» she asked, moving on and turning to him, her figure sharp under the white moonlight, composed, dangerous Ice Queen all over again.

Hades shook his head, crossing his arms. He could still feel her little shoulder under his palm, a microscopic piece of flesh and bones that could terrorize any living man on that Earth.  
>The Ice Queen tilted her head, and pressed her lips tightly together.<br>«I could start. True. But there are just some things I will never give up on. And I can't. I'll never be able to. Call me a weak if you want, we all know I am not, around here» her mouth moved almost by itself, while she pretended to be really interested in a trail of cinder grass.

«I know. Scars keep burning forever, even if the flame lowers a bit. They're always there.»  
>He caught another flower and burned it again, ashes kept firmly in his closed palm.<br>«Loving someone and being loved leaves a mark on us. A deep one that crawls under our skin and will never leave us until we breathe and exist. Some of your scars know who you are better than you yourself. And loving someone is the biggest wound that you can carry along.»  
>He opened his fingers, and the ashes flew away in the cold winter air.<br>«You need to learn to let it go, somehow. I know you lost someone. We all have, here, even if we don't show it. That's why I sent you there. Because they say that time changes things, but actually the only one who can change them is you. You cut one of the ropes that tied you to your past. So, you will slowly learn to let go. And trust me on this one, it's for the better.»

Elsa didn't move.  
>She observed the grey dust wave in the air, fly far away.<br>The moon lighted her face, her light freckles like unfathomed constellations waiting for someone to tie them together.  
>She held her sides, hands disappearing in black fabric.<br>«I can't.»  
>He huffed, burning another flower, letting the ashes fly away again.<br>«I know. That's exactly the problem. No one can, dearie.»

She turned and walked away, still holding her sides in an iron grip, back straight and hair waving in the icy breeze.  
>Elsa stopped walking halfway to the dark portal she had summoned, tilting her head to him.<br>Her mouth opened and closed several times, like if she wanted to ask an important thing but didn't exactly know how.

Then she said it, closing her eyes.  
>And he had to reply.<p>

He actually felt guilty for what she had told her before. For blatantly lying about the reasons of sending her to that man.  
>There were hidden reasons.<br>And they had to be kept in the dark.  
>He almost felt guilty for that.<br>But wasn't he the villain, after all? He had to act by consequence.

But in that moment, when he told her the truth to her last question, he lowered his head to the ground, an unburnt crimson blossom in his hands.

She went away after his reply, and he felt sad for that. For not being able to change the unwritten rules of the world.  
>He wished to not be the bad guy, for once.<br>To know what were the memories she would never give up in forever.

Hades threw away the flower, disappearing as well.  
>It landed on the ground, right on the tears she had shed before going away.<p>

ᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧ

When Elsa and Hades were both in the (D)Evil's Tavern, but in opposite sides of the room, it was a general rule to never ask why. Even if the diners talked, nobody dared to wonder out loud why King and Queen of Hell avoided to look at each other one day and played cards together the next one. Even Hook was careful to keep his mouth shut. There was no desire to stir up Hades' rage – but most of all, what they really feared was _Elsa's_ rage.

That particular day, however, the diners couldn't care less about Elsa, sitting at the table of The Company, and Hades, lost in the darkness somewhere in the room. There was something in the air, everyone could feel it, and the few words exchanged were often interrupted by careful glares behind their back, as they feared someone could appear from the dark.

When Elsa noticed that even Ursula, Maleficent and Hook stirred on the chair, she decided it was time to ask.  
>«Is there something I'm not aware of?»<p>

The three villains jumped at the sound of her annoyed voice.  
>«Tonight he is coming back» Hook answered.<br>«Oh, thanks, now everything is clearer».  
>Ursula and Maleficent shared a worried look.<br>«Remember when we said that Hades was one of the few that liked to hang out with Facilier?» the sea witch said. «Well, there is another. He, Hades and Facilier are a singular trio. We could say they're almost friends».  
>«Do not exaggerate» Maleficent intervened. «They respect each other a lot more than they respect whoever else. I think they <em>fear<em> each other».  
>«Nah, I don't think so» Hook replied, swallowing another glass of rum. «I think he and Hades fear Facilier, but Facilier considers them just as lab rats, or something like that».<br>«Doesn't he do the same with every one of us?»  
>«<em>Excuse me<em>» Elsa regained their attention, rolling her eyes and wondering again why did she lose her time with them, «we were talking about this mysterious man. Is he a member of the Company too?»  
>They nodded together without saying a word.<br>«And he is coming back from where?»  
>«Everywhere» Ursula answered. «And nowhere. It's… Complicated».<br>«Great» Elsa snorted. Another cryptic guy.  
>«Don't underestimate him» Maleficent advised. «I know – I mean, <em>of course<em> he is not as powerful as you, Elsa – but he has those kind of powers that can take you by surprise».  
>Hook giggled, another glass emptied.<br>«Don't worry so much, Mal» he said. «I'm not even sure if she will be able to see him».  
>Elsa cocked an eyebrow.<br>«What do you mean?» she asked.

«Shut up, Hook» Ursula hissed.  
>«Come on! She's scared of <em>nothing<em>. And you know that if you don't-»  
>«Hook, enough».<br>«I bet you sleep like a log at night, don't you?» the pirate pushed away Ursula's tentacles and turned to Elsa. «Or maybe _with_ a log» he giggled. «Anyway, if you do, surely you won't be able to-»

«It doesn't matter how much time I stay away, I always find you drunk and annoying, Hook».

Four heads turned around towards a black spot of darkness. Elsa frowned and picked up some grains of black sand from the table, but before she could even wondered where did they come from a slender figure approached their table.  
>«Maleficent. Ursula. Hook» the man greeted. «It's nice to see you again. And you» he turned to the blonde, «must be Elsa, if I don't go wrong».<br>The Ice Queen glared at him: black air, black dress, almost grey skin. He seemed to be made by darkness itself.  
>She crossed her legs and cocked an eyebrow.<br>«Who am I talking to?»

The man smirked, bowing and giving Elsa the opportunity to look in his eyes. They were golden. Unexpected.  
>«May I introduce myself:» he said. «Pitch Black. The Guardian of Nightmares – Boogeyman, for friends».<br>Elsa stiffened.  
>She and nightmares hadn't a really great relationship.<p>

Pitch eyed the rest of the Company.  
>«Why don't you go getting something to drink?»<br>Maleficent and Ursula caught the hint to go away, grabbed Hook and disappeared in the darkness. Pitch sat down where Hook was before, just in front of Elsa that didn't move nothing but her eyes to follow his movements. He emptied Maleficent's glass and then looked at the blonde again.  
>«Hades told me about you» he said.<br>«Not a surprise».  
>«I have to admit I was a little sceptic myself. I wasn't sure you would have seen me».<br>Elsa cocked an eyebrow, confused.  
>«Did Hades tell you I was blind?» she asked with aloofness.<br>Pitch laughed.  
>«Oh no, of course not. On the contrary, he well told me how beautiful your eyes were» he smirked, his sharp teeth showing. «The problem is, I'm the Guardian of Nightmares. Alike the rest of the Guardians, I can be seen only by people who believe in me».<br>Elsa started to understand where the conversation was going, and in the same way she realized Hook's confusing words.  
>She didn't say anything, however, and made him sign to go on.<br>«Since you can, this means you have nightmares».  
>«Of course I do» Elsa shrugged. «Everybody does. It's no big deal».<br>«Oh, believe me» Pitch scratched his chin. «It _is_».

Elsa frowned. The look of his golden eyes, it was creepy. It looked like it could slip inside her soul. It was similar to Facilier's one, but Facilier already knew where to find the answers he wanted; Pitch had to search.

«Ice Queen, Frozen Curse, Winter Slayer» the Boogeyman listed. «I found your name in many people's bad dreams. I like the Icy Nightmare one, personally. It's _so_ poetic».  
>«People need to name their biggest fears» Elsa replied.<br>Pitch's grin enlarged.  
>«That's a wonderful observation» he bent, as he wanted to reveal her a secret. «Then tell me, Queen: what is <em>your<em> biggest fear?»

Elsa's eyes widened. It was just for a second, but it was more than enough for the memories to overflow.

ᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧ

_As time went by, rain kept falling._

_It was a fairly cold autumn, the one they were having, leaves turning orange and crimson, a warm waterfall of colours each time they walked under the trees of the kingdom, like that evening: Anna had insisted so much that the blonde needed some well deserved rest from paperwork, and had basically dragged her in the streets, a red scarf draped messily around her neck and auburn hair arranged in what could only be defined as the resembling of a sparkling bonfire._  
><em>Elsa was preparing for her sword fighting lessons, when she came, and hence the enthusiasm of the younger girl the blonde had to accept going to visit her subjects dressed as a fellow prince, bright breeches and her favourite blue jacket, black boots making her steps echo in the halls as she tried to keep pace with her younger sister, the colourful hurricane that made everyone smile when they heard her joyful voice expressing all her emotions.<em>  
><em>And now there they were, walking slowly in an alley full of ancient trees, leaves falling around them as Anna held her sister's forearm, telling her about how she couldn't wait to gather chestnuts and let them get warm on the fire, to drink hot chocolate feeling her fingers freezing, to go hunting for leaves.<em>  
><em>Elsa chuckled, shaking her head lightly at the last words.<em>  
><em>«You want to hunt leaves, Anna? What does that even mean?»<em>  
><em>The redhead pouted noticeably, shrugging of her sister's unbelievable lack of inventive. Then, her eyes lit all at once, and she left Elsa's arm to run towards an oak.<em>  
><em>She felt the lack of warmth on the fabric of her jacket, but carefully decided to pretend she didn't care about that.<em>  
><em>It was all she had been doing, lately: pretending.<em>  
><em>Pretending she hadn't paperwork left to do in her study.<em>  
><em>Pretending her feet weren't sore from all that walking.<em>  
><em>Pretending she didn't still feel scared of hurting her subjects in some way.<em>  
><em>Pretending winter wouldn't have come before that year, caused by her continue anxiety issues.<em>  
><em>Pretending the crimson, seven pointed leaf Anna was excitedly showing her didn't make her think of her sister's hair and that only.<em>  
><em>Pretending Anna's freckles weren't the most beautiful constellations she had ever seen.<em>  
><em>Pretending her sister's fingers holding hers lightly weren't the cause of her hummingbird heartbeat.<em>  
><em>Pretending that autumn alley wasn't the best place she had ever been, just because she was with the redhead.<em>  
><em>Pretending she didn't love Anna the way she loved her.<em>

_«Elsa? Arendelle to Elsa, are you awake?»_  
><em>A delicate hand waved in front of her eyes, and she snapped from her trail of thoughts.<em>

_«I-I'm sorry?»  
>Anna huffed, amused, rolling her eyes while she pushed her head back. Then she clung more to her left arm and they began walking again, and Elsa found it really difficult to keep putting one step after the other without tripping or forgetting how people did that movement thing.<br>«I asked you if you want to hunt leaves with me, since your sword fighting instructor will be long gone by now» Anna smiled, tugging a bit at her side, and she nodded, pushing a pale hair lock back from her forehead.  
>Then, a thought hit her, and she had to look at her own feet while formulating her next sentence, ears crimson for embarrassment.<br>«What? Oh, no, wait, not 'what'. Excuse me? I quite didn't catch that.»  
>«I don't know how one does a leaf hunting.» she finally said, covering her face with her hands. She was a mess. A complete incompetent mess. Anna decided to spend some time with her, with her, and what did she do? Stand there and watch as her sister did all the wonderful things she could being the ray of sun in a snowy day she had always been, stand there in that goofy attire watching Anna kneel and gather coloured leaves, doing absolutely nothing.<br>She felt idiotic.  
>She had felt worse things, lately, she reckoned.<br>Since that night in the library, things had changed, at least inside her. She had been avoiding breakfast and lunch, the only moments when she and Anna could usually enjoy each other's company without diplomats and ambassadors between them, she had been working twice the requited time, locked up in her study. She had been the first to wake up and the last to go to sleep at night, getting out of her workspace only when she was sure everyone else was long asleep. She had been giving up on chocolate, avoiding to venture in the kitchens, terrified at the only thought of meeting Anna alone.  
>She was afraid.<br>Not of Anna, of course. The redhead was the purest person she had ever known, her sunlight, her spring break after a cold and long winter.  
>She was afraid of herself.<br>Of what she felt.__  
>Because it was true, and she couldn't deny that anymore, she felt something that should have been nothing.<br>And she was terrorized, terrified at the thought of the redhead just being in her company.__  
>Anna, who had endured the pressure of an abandoned kingdom, who had climbed a whole mountain just to ask her to stop the winter she herself had caused, who had gone back to help her subjects, to comfort people.<em>_  
>Anna, who had been betrayed by the one who declared to love her, who had risked to die in a storm caused by her, again.<em>_  
>Anna, who had ran to her instead of saving her own life.<em>_  
>Anna, who had sacrificed everything for her.<br>Anna, who thought so much of her sister, the sister that in that moment was standing beside her, pretending that deciding whether orange or red was better was the most important question she had in her twisted mind.  
>Anna.<em>

_«Anna?» the name escaped her lips and she couldn't stop it, dragged on by her own mental rant._  
><em>The redhead, who had just kneeled to examine better a yellow, crumbling leaf, rose her head to meet her eyes.<em>  
><em>And she could swear she hadn't seen anything more beautiful- beautifuller- in her whole life.<em>  
><em>«Yeah?»<em>  
><em>Elsa averted her eyes, muttering a brief 'nothing' between her teeth.<em>  
><em>She hoped that it would have been enough. She hoped being there, showing Anna that after a week of total, unexplained absence she was still alive would have delayed questions and requited reasons enough.<em>  
><em>Obviously, it wasn't.<em>  
><em>Anna grabbed her jacket's edge, tugging it to make her kneel beside her and cross her legs on the warm, freshly cut grass.<em>  
><em>Elsa fidgeted a bit with a grass thread, pretending to be really concentrated on its slender frame, the water drops sliding over its edge. But a gentle, warm hand took hers and let the thread fall down, caressing each and every one of Elsa's knuckles, crossing the pale valleys between hills made of bones, tracing the rim of a wide palm, teasing fingertips and tugging a thumb, hills never ending, valleys crossed in every millimeter of skin they could reach.<em>

_And when she rose her eyes, Elsa wished she had gone blind, just to not see the look of total desperation Anna was giving her through her teal irises.  
>The redhead held her hand, her free one gently tucking a blonde hairstroke behind her ear, eyes roaming over her face, like if Elsa's eyes were a book she had just finished reading, and they had left her without an ending.<br>«Elsa, please, say something.»  
>A whisper.<br>Nothing more than a whisper.  
>But it was all it took for the Queen of Arendelle to embrace her sister, to hold her so tightly that she could feel the redhead's breath itching in her arms.<br>Elsa hugged Anna, arms behind her back, and hid her face in her sister's shoulder, not a word escaping her lips.  
>Anna's lips were next to her ear when she spoke, faint, warm breath tickling her skin like a light sea breeze.<br>«Elsa, I-I c-can't be strong enough for you to shut me out again. At least I need to know why.» she said, hands wrapped around the blonde's neck, feeling Elsa's hands draw slow and little patterns on her back.  
>Elsa didn't answer, releasing a deep breath, parting from the embrace to look her straight in the eyes.<br>Her lower lip quivered, eyes wide with an emotion Anna couldn't quite place- fear? Anger? Terror?  
>And terror it was. Elsa was terrified. She was terrified about making Anna even think she was shutting her out again- and wasn't it true, maybe? She was terrified about what dwelled inside her, in her lungs, her stomach, her whole being. She was terrified about the look Anna was giving her, the desperate and concerned look oh please don't be worried about me worry about yourself please.<br>She was terrified.  
>And she was torn in two.<br>«I will never shut you out again. And that's a promise.» she finally managed to say, hands clasping Anna's shoulders, the red scarf Anna was wearing slowly sliding down from her neck.  
>She tried to adjust it, but before she could even give it a try the redhead stopped her, grabbing her wrists and staring into her eyes again.<br>«S-so I can at least pretend to believe it?» she whispered, a teardrop falling from her eyes, landing on her red scarf.  
>Elsa swept her thumb across Anna's cheek, the void she was feeling forbidding her lips to move, to dare mutter an answer.<br>She couldn't.  
>She just couldn't.<br>«T-tell me why, Elsa, just why. Is it something I have done? Am I annoying? I swear I will learn to keep silent, I s-swear. Just, just please, d-don't leave me. I love you. I love you so much. Maybe even too much. Oh, here I g-go again, please, please give me time, I swear I will learn-»  
>«I love you too. And that's exactly the prob-»<br>Elsa pressed one hand over her own mouth, suddenly retreating from Anna's skin, eyes closed in a realm of thoughts the redhead could only try to imagine.  
>She had almost said it. She had.<br>And she kept her eyes closed, even when she felt Anna's scarf being draped around her own neck, warm and soft fingers lowering her hands from her mouth, thumbs tracing the edge of her lips.  
>When she opened them, Anna was staring at her, chewing at her own lips. She looked like a caged animal, waiting for his owner to reveal where he kept the hidden key. Like if a question was hanging between the two of them, and neither had the courage to say it out loud.<br>«Say it again.»  
>«I-I'm sorry?»<br>«Say that again. Please.»  
>Elsa didn't even need to ask what Anna wanted to hear.<br>She felt her heart beating like a humming bird, the blood pumping in her ears like war tambourines played by brave soldiers. And if they were brave, she could be too.  
>«That is the problem.»<br>«Again.»  
>«That is th-»<br>But she couldn't finish.  
>She couldn't, because Anna's chocolate scented breath blended so perfectly with her own, and leaves were falling in orange and golden and red flurries all around them, and the red scarf fell on the grass, as warm, gentle lips glided on her own.<br>As Anna kissed her.  
>Her last breath was caught by Anna's lips, meeting her own in a light, brief dance of warm flesh and beating hearts, with Anna's breaths tickling her skin and her hands sliding up until they met auburn locks, fingers tangled in a sea of tarnished copper. The blonde angled her head to allow her teeth to tease her lower lip, and slow, deep breaths became the melody of that empty autumn alley.<br>When they tried to move their heads and ended up twice the same way, Anna captured Elsa's lips once again, her thumbs caressing her cheeks, while the older one's fingers traced light patterns on her back, slow, almost a scared touch.  
>Elsa smiled, between one kiss and the other, and when they parted, Anna's forehead resting against her own, the redhead just managed to whisper a word, a last question, before rain started to fall again.<br>«When?» she asked.  
>And when Elsa replied, her head just fell forward, resting in the crook of Elsa's neck, a content sigh escaping her lips as her hands ran to hold her tight.<br>Rain fell again like leaves, but she didn't care to do her hunting anymore. She had found all she had ever wished for._

«Always.»

ᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧ

Elsa shook her head a little. To Pitch it looked like she was wagging a fly off her shoulder – only that the fly was as heavy and noisy as only memories can be.  
>Then, the blonde eyed to him.<br>And lied.  
>«I have no fears».<br>«I doubt so» the Boogeyman tilted his head.  
>«I'm a Queen. Queens don't fear. They <em>inspire<em> fear».  
>Pitch nodded and hummed, but it was like when you agree with a little kid just to make him stop crying.<br>«Very strange» he said, taking Ursula's glass and raising it to see if there was still liquor in it. «Fear is one of the most primal emotions of people, within love. You can't avoid being afraid, just as you can't avoid being in love. Sometimes, you're _afraid_ of being _in_ _love_. I think that if you don't fear, you aren't able to love, neither».  
>Elsa didn't answer. She just looked.<br>«Do you think it's better to be feared or to be loved, my Queen?»  
>«I don't get your point».<br>He simply rocked the glass between his fingers, observing the last drops of liquor move and blend in themselves.  
>He then put it down and stood up.<br>«I'll go searching for Hades and Facilier, now. I told Hades I would have gone to greet him, and Facilier will probably like to play a welcome back cards match with me».  
>He started to walk away.<br>«What did you mean?» Elsa stopped him.  
>Pitch didn't look back.<p>

«We are all vulnerable. We have weaknesses, flaws and fears. That's what makes us real. That's what makes us worthy to be loved».

And as he disappeared in the darkness, Elsa disappeared in the past for a moment.  
>Or more.<p>

ᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧ

_Snow. Snow everywhere._

_The following days had been, if possible, even worse than the previous ones._  
><em>They hadn't shared breakfast, or lunch, or even the same room.<em>  
><em>Elsa had simply pretended the delayed paperwork couldn't wait even at sleep time, her eyes closing while she bended over her desk every night.<em>  
><em>Anna had kept up the farce, feigning to be extremely busy with Kristoff and his ice business, acting like the best friend she had to be, playing with Sven, attending courtesy lessons, her eyes roaming the halls in search of a platinum glimpse every time she could.<em>  
><em>Still, they hadn't faced each other in over a week.<em>  
><em>And snow had come, as Anna noticed one morning waking up, it came heavily and unexpectedly, at the beginning of December, in time with the season. But she knew it had nothing to do with winter, and it had something to do with the most beautiful person in the world, caging herself up in a study, hurting herself while she tried to protect everyone else.<em>  
><em>That morning, nine days after they had walked in the autumn coloured alley, Anna woke up to find a white cover all over Arendelle. Kids playing snowball fights, Kristoff complaining about the poor carrots' harvest, servants removing snow from the courtyard, the smell of hot chocolate already fixed in her mind before any cocoa had even been roasted.<em>  
><em>And now there she was, last rays of sun peeking through the broad windows, silent steps measuring the soundless hall that led to her most loved, most hated door.<em>  
><em>A door that had always been closed.<em>  
><em>And now, it was again.<em>  
><em>She came to face the white, snowflake decorated wood, holding her breath just as her fist in the air.<em>  
><em>Oh, the irony. She had repeated that gesture so many times it was almost a default position, now.<em>  
><em>Truth was, she missed Elsa. She missed her tired yet concentrated face at breakfast, her furrowed brow when she read paperwork, her graceful gestures, everything.<em>  
><em>She missed her, after slightly more than a week. And she had tried to be patient. To reflect and ponder about what had happened. She had relived those moments in her mind for endless nights, unable to sleep, staring at the dark wall in front of her bed: the blue fabric of that jacket, the crimson leaves falling around them, the humid grass, the sound of their steps on grail, the light rain drizzle making her hair stick to her face, Elsa's scent, her terrified eyes, her shaky hands. Her lips.<em>  
><em>Anna had really tried to place that feeling, for many times now. She hadn't even needed to realize it. It had just always been there, somehow. It just needed to be unlocked.<em>  
><em>And now, how ironic, they were more locked than ever.<em>  
><em>Her knuckles quickly rapped against the white wood, her signature knock. Even being as breathless as now, the old habit had stuck with her.<em>

_«So after two years, you're going to shut me out again?»  
>No reply came, not the twirling of a doorknob, not graceful steps, not a single breath.<br>«I know you're there. I know, Elsa. I can feel you through the door.»  
>Silence.<br>And that was the most frustrating part of it all. She could handle the emotional rush of that situation. She could handle skipping meals just to stand in the halls, hoping to see her walk somewhere. She could handle pretending she didn't know where the unexpected snow came from. She could handle knocking to a closed door. She could handle talking to a wall. But she couldn't stand the cold silence that followed each and every one of her words.  
>She couldn't.<br>So she simply pressed her forehead to the white wood, her palm pressed on the ivory surface, eyes closing from tiredness._

_«...just don't shut me out again. Please.»_

_Silence._  
><em>Then, something happened. The doorknob twisted, and she felt the wood in front of her move as it opened, freezing air hitting her face like a thousand needles.<em>  
><em>The room was silent, and no one was there to open the door. Like if a gust of wind had simply decided to let her in.<em>  
><em>She held her breath, and stepped in, hands to her sides and eyes wincing as she tried to adjust to the endless light games of the chamber.<em>  
><em>Because, Anna realized as she stopped, breathless, closing the door behind her, that room was Elsa.<em>  
><em>The perfectly made bed, the royal blue drapes hanging from the tall window in the other side of the room. And then, the ice.<em>  
><em>It spread all around, climbed on drawers and mirrors, armchairs and carpets, ripping fabric and gliding on the walls. Ice shards, breaking surfaces like cutlery, menacing arrows glistening at the light of a dying sun. It all shone in the utmost beauty she had ever seen. But then she realized it wasn't a peaceful work of art. It was fruit of torment, of inner scars, of silent fights that took place in the most wounded mind she had ever seen.<em>  
><em>And there she was.<em>  
><em>Sitting on the floor, beside the bed, her knees bent to her chest and her chin resting on them, looking at the orange rays of sunset.<em>  
><em>She was giving her back to Anna, shoulders rising and falling slowly, deep breaths resounding in the chilling air of her bedroom.<em>  
><em>The redhead moved a few steps forward, but she simply stretched one arm in the air, gesturing her to stop, speaking in a low whisper.<em>  
><em>«Y-you see? I'd never shut you out without a good reason. And this is a really good one, Anna.»<em>

_Elsa had hoped it would have been enough, to avoid more hurting. That it would have been enough for Anna to see what she could do, what she was, to finally make her realize that it was better for her if she stayed as far as possible from the blonde. Deep down, she had been so desperate to hope to scare her sister, if only that would have changed the unexplainable affection and devotion Anna had for her._  
><em>But it was Anna she was thinking about. And Anna never did what she was expected to do.<em>  
><em>So, she felt steps approaching her, and the fabric of Anna's dress brushed against her right arm, while the redhead stood next to her.<em>  
><em>She didn't want to rise her head. She didn't want to look into those teal eyes and deal with what she had done. All she wanted was for Anna to be okay. And she clearly couldn't be, standing in that freezing room, standing next to a monster.<em>

_But Anna wasn't afraid enough, hence she sat down next to her, mimicking her posture, embracing her own knees while she pretended to be really concentrated over an auburn sunset._

_«You always tried to protect me, Elsa.» she faintly whispered, fidgeting with the fabric of the blue carpet they were sitting on. «Do you remember that time, when I fell from my bike? You took me in your arms and brought me to the nurses, Elsa, walking through the whole castle, and who knows how heavy I was for a seven years old girl, as frail and gentle as you. Yet, you didn't mutter a word, and brought me to get medication for my bruised knees. Not a single word.»_  
><em>Elsa didn't answer, not even daring to move her eyes to her side. Because she felt, she knew that if she did she would have fallen for it again, fallen for the orange rays caressing Anna's skin, fallen for her delicate jawline, her wide spread freckles, the way her irises shone when she was telling a story, the way her lips moved and showed a glimpse of pearl teeth every now and then, her little ears, her auburn locks and her collarbone, the way it held her breaths, the way it showed her tension. She would have fallen for everything. And it had to be nothing.<em>  
><em>But Anna didn't stop, and she started to wave her hands in the freezing air, apparently not suffering the chilling cold that would have cracked anyone's bones.<em>  
><em>Elsa knew she did feel cold. She just wasn't willing to complain about it. Strong yet frail Anna, who never sighed, never hiccupped, never ceased being strong and positive, even when the whole world turned its back on her. Anna, who silently kept playing even when her ankle broke from a bad bike ride when she was five. Anna, who sneaked into the kitchens at midnight to get some chocolate bars, and always made sure to leave some in front of that closed white door. Anna, who checked for it every morning, and jumped in happiness when she saw it was gone, knocking steadily on the door because Elsa you took the chocolate, does it mean we can be friends again? Elsa? And even when the door remained closed, time after time, she wouldn't stop chuckling and laughing, because her sister had taken the chocolate, so it meant she still liked it, and they could have some secret way of making sure of each other's presence, even if it meant stealing the whole Arendelle's cocoa supply.<em>

_Elsa huffed, finally reckoning Anna wouldn't have given up on her rambling so easily, and slowly placed a blanket over the redhead's shoulders._  
><em>And that was enough to make Anna stop talking, and clutch more to the warm garment. She turned her head to the blonde, their noses mere inches from the other.<em>  
><em>And that was all it took.<em>  
><em>All it took for Anna's hands to cup Elsa's cheeks, for the redheads fingers to stroke each and every feature with their backs, for their foreheads to slowly collide and their eyes to lock into their siblings.<em>  
><em>Elsa smiled faintly, drowning in the beauty, the peace of that moment.<em>  
><em>But she soon averted her eyes, gently grabbing Anna's wrists and lowering them again.<em>

_«Anna, no. This... this is not right. We- I can't.»_

_Her irises landed on the floor, knees to her chest again, head buried between them._  
><em>It was true. She couldn't. She couldn't let Anna ruin herself. She couldn't let her fall into darkness because her sister was a monster. She couldn't hurt Anna. Again.<em>  
><em>She was expecting for the redhead to leave. To stay silent. Maybe to even finally grow tired of all that mess and simply go away.<em>  
><em>But, instead, she felt the blanket wrap her shoulders too, and one hand gently placed on her own.<em>  
><em>Anna.<em>

_«There you go again, trying to protect me from whatever you think might hurt me.»_  
><em>A brief pause.<em>  
><em>«Elsa, let me tell you a secret. The world is big, and vast, and full of bad situations, bad decisions, things, people. And it's inevitable that at some point we all get hurt. You'd want to protect me. But you can't, Elsa, and that's exactly the point. I can't avoid getting hurt. But I do have a choice in who I want by my side when my knees burn and my eyes sting and the world is blurry because I want to cry. And that someone is no one but you.»<em>  
><em>Anna stopped, finally realizing the weight, the meaning of what she had just said.<em>  
><em>Of what she felt.<em>  
><em>But she couldn't stop. Not now that Elsa had rose her head and had fixed her eyes into hers, lower lip quivering and the most hopeless, desperate look in the world planted in her beautiful irises.<em>  
><em>Because it was true. Elsa was beautiful. Not of a common beauty, Elsa dwelled with perfection: her pale, ivory skin, her light and almost unnoticeable freckles, her long and fluttering eyelashes, the messy braid she had pulled that morning, the blanket surrounding her like an oversized, graceful gown. The way her jawline curved to rise again, the thin line of her eyebrows. The hands clenching on thick plaid fabric. The way she held mugs in the morning. The grace every single one of her gestures contained. Her delicate way of turning the pages of a book when she was reading, almost as if she could have hurt the paper under her fingers.<em>  
><em>Her eyes.<em>  
><em>Her eyes, looking at her filled with something Anna couldn't quite place if not with love.<em>  
><em>And she was sure her eyes looked the same, when she was looking at Elsa.<em>  
><em>It was simple. Clear as water. The grass is green, the sky is blue and Anna loved Elsa.<em>  
><em>«I will get hurt, Elsa, and I will fall. But it won't matter as long as you will be there, because your simple presence makes everything less painful. And I want you to be there like you have been in that alley. I want you to be yourself. To be free and stop feeling guilty, because... because I am in love with you. And as long as I know that, nothing else will ever matter.»<em>

_Silence._

_Not a single word came from the blonde._  
><em>Until she managed to whisper some words, snowflakes starting to fall slowly and gently in the room.<em>  
><em>«Do you- did you really mean that?»<em>  
><em>Anna stared at her in confusion for an instant, and then she simply did what seemed more logical.<em>  
><em>And her being Anna, it resulted as the less logical thing.<em>  
><em>She chuckled.<em>  
><em>She chuckled, and she simply held Elsa in her arms, the blonde's face hiding in the crook of her neck, hands tracing light patterns on her back.<em>  
><em>Then, as the broke the embrace, she simply let her eyes wander over Elsa's face, her fingers' backs caressing her cheekbones and her jawline.<em>  
><em>«I thought about it. But I just feel like it's always been inside of me. What we have, this, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the whole world. Ever. So... what do you say? Look, I even brought chocolate, because chocolate makes everything better, doesn't it?» she smiled, revealing two bars of the finest cocoa Arendelle traded with other countries, breaking the biggest one in two halves and waving it in front of Elsa's face.<em>  
><em>The blonde laughed.<em>  
><em>Not a fake chuckle, or a giggle. An happy, satisfied laugh, and she rolled her eyes, holding Anna so tightly that the younger girl could feel her breath leaving her lungs.<em>  
><em>«I don't know how I made it through my days without you.» she whispered between her hair, thumb caressing her neck's scalp as Anna simply nudged more into her, their bodies bound to blend together if they got an inch nearer to each other.<em>  
><em>«I don't know how it happened and how I realized it, and how I'm gonna manage to keep up with this. And I don't know what in the world did I ever do to deserve you, Anna.»<em>  
><em>«Silly, you only deserve the best the world could offer you. Like the chocolate bars we are wasting here.»<em>  
><em>Elsa laughed again, and Anna thought she had never heard a more beautiful sound in her whole life.<em>  
><em>«I could even kiss you when you act like that, you know?»<em>  
><em>«...then do it.»<em>

_But Elsa didn't, grabbing her bar and slowly eating one._  
><em>Until Anna stole it from her, and pressed her lips on the blonde's ones, feeling her smile between one kiss and the other.<em>  
><em>And it was true.<em>  
><em>Chocolate made everything better.<em>  
><em>But only if Elsa was there to share it with her.<em>

ᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧᎧ

Someone had once said her, when she was young, that we never truly lose the people we loved, even when they are gone forever, because something of them will always live through us.  
>That day was the day their parents had been buried under the misty fog.<br>And that someone was her sister, speaking through the wood of a door.

The Ice Queen stood in the middle of a clearing, a one she knew really well.  
>It was the place she had ran to when everything had shattered to pieces, when leaving had seemed like the only solution, and going back once again wasn't an option anymore.<p>

It had been long. So long since those days. If she was thinking more about the days of the clearing or those others, she didn't want to wonder.  
>There were times and nights when she could simply lessen the pain. Pretend it wasn't there, suffocate it under layers and layers of other thoughts, but more often actions. A never ending sequence of gestures, like if she was a machine. Go, fulfil your duties, break into the Tavern, play and talk and listen until your eyes burn from tiredness. And then she would go to sleep, ascending the stairs to her chambers, behind the heavy doors, buried under covers that did little to masquerade the emptiness of that bed. She would tire herself so much that when the time to sleep would come she wouldn't have had time to wonder, to think, to let her mind move of a single inch before closing her eyes and sliding in the arms of Morpheus.<br>But in that moment, standing in the clearing, having left the Tavern and that strange man, Pitch- in that moment her mind could do nothing but wander.  
>She sat on a wide, plain rock, her knees bent to her chest in that old gesture that did nothing but remind her of past days, buried in the dust of times.<br>She had paid so much attention to that sentence, when she had heard it.  
>Something of them lives through us forever. It marks us like a hidden scar.<br>She had cried, she had shed so many tears that her eyes had ran dry, because there weren't more to cry. And she had wondered, when she had first stepped in her father's study after that misty day, what exactly of him had to survive through her. Because if people were rain, then he was drizzle, and she was a hurricane.  
>She had stood in the centre of the room, frozen in place, eyes fixed in those of a plastic portrait.<br>Her first emotion had been sadness. Mourning. And then bitterness. And regret.  
>He had promised he'd have been back by a couple weeks. She hadn't hugged him, or kissed his cheek, or held him tight and asked for him to hurry. She knew her sister had done that already, without hurting anyone. Anna was everything she wasn't.<br>Anna should be everything she couldn't.  
>Free. Careless. Energetic. Warm. Bright.<br>But most and first of all, happy.  
>Anna deserved to be happy.<br>And he had taken away that possibility from her by going away like that.  
>It was like if he had gone one afternoon, saying he was going to buy milk, and then the milk never came. Never anymore.<p>

She had not blamed him for that. She knew better. She knew sometimes in life things don't go as we'd hope to, and she knew that he loved them more than anything. Just like their mother.  
>But they were gone.<br>They were gone.  
>Just like all she had ever known was.<br>Looking back at those times, she had believed that her own escapade, her salvation had been her own enclosure, her silence, her kept distance from anyone she could potentially hurt, or damage in any way. The cage she herself had built.  
>And so she had believed that the mark she was bearing, the thing that was living through her, was her father's control. His calmness. The lessons he had taught her about emotions, and conscience. His struggles were stacked under her skin like a signature. And she had been convinced of that for quite some time.<p>

But someone she couldn't remember had also said her that no matter what, the life of each one of us is destined to come to one day. The day where everything we believed in will be shattered, and we will realize we were missing something all along. There will always come that day when your life is irreparably changed.  
>And that day had come with a loud explosion of events, with a sentence that had shattered her card castle, the words she had wished she would have never heard.<br>The words that had destroyed everything.

«She is dead».

When we lose someone we loved, someone we held so deep to our heart, words can't even begin to describe the feeling that overcome us.  
>But she knew what she felt in that moment, in the clearing, after so much time had passed since that night, the night where everything had lost sense and the world had stopped spinning.<br>That night, she had cried. For the first time in much, much time, she had cried all the tears she could. She had crawled in a corner of her room and she had dig her nails in her arms until they bled.  
>Because no matter what, the ice kept exploding all around, shredding drapes, destroying windows, erupting from the ground and surrounding her with its red shade, arrows made of ice flying in the air and cutting her cheek.<br>Hades had asked her what that little wound meant. She hadn't replied.  
>She didn't see the point in anything anymore.<br>And every time she went to sleep, no matter how tired she was, she would always see it when her eyelids closed.  
>See her.<p>

Like that day when they had walked to the hills.  
>It was sunny and bright, and the sea breeze made her pigtails wave in the wind, like the small green leaves that announced a warm spring.<br>They had climbed the hills to find a good place for their picnic, and she was holding that basket full of fruit and sandwiches, happy and relieved because finally they were alone, just the two of them for once, no politicians, no ice harvesters and no talking snowmen to break the silence that had formed when they sat on the grass, formal dresses abandoned for the sake of a white blouse and a green sweater.  
>They had started slowly, with hands held under tables and strokes of hair being put back in place. And they had approached that thing they couldn't even name before- love- with the grace of a six pm ray of sun, orange and glistening over the wood of blossoming trees.<br>There they were, sitting on the grass and biting apples, the taste of white bread and salmon still between their teeth and hair messed up in the sea breeze.  
>And there they kissed for the really first time, salmon taste in their teeth, hair messed up with breeze and hands linked like grass threads.<br>Happiness was inches away.

The feeling of emptiness had never actually left her. The feeling of guilt. Because she felt like if she had never left once again, believing that it would have been for the better, believing that as long as she was far from her then Anna would have been saved, would have been okay, maybe if she hadn't gone away all of that wouldn't have happened.  
>She had said she would buy milk, and then she had left her forever.<br>And the guilt would have never left her, as long as she would have breathed with those tired lungs and tired soul.  
>She was missing her.<br>Every single day.

She missed her tired yawns in the morning, her clumsy feet tripping every now and then, her eyes lighting up at the only mention of chocolate, the way she looked in the mornings, when she would sit at her boudoir and brush her hair, sunlight making her auburn locks shine like the sea at sunset.  
>Anna was also disorganized, a mess of a person. She would forget to brush her teeth, and always leave with her blouses buttoned up the wrong way. She never left her breakfast dishes to the servants, leaving them on the table, rushing to whoever knew where.<br>She had always been her reason to wake up in the mornings, her reason to do anything in that world.

And she was gone.

The Ice Queen stood up, walking to the rock wall that closed the clearing, almost a white canvas of thoughts.  
>It was pure and untouched, like everything was anytime before she came to mess things up. To ruin them.<br>But not that time. That time she was alone. Like she had actually always been.  
>And she wanted to leave a mark.<br>A mark of her existence in the world.  
>A mark that wouldn't have had to be carried by anyone if not the nude surface of black rock.<br>While her hands moved in the air, a soft breeze starting to blow between her fingers, she tried to stop her thoughts. But they wouldn't.

Anna liked salmon sandwiches and green apples, only the green ones because they tasted more genuine, in her opinion. She liked warm blankets and the smell of chestnuts over the fire, she never picked flowers because she believed it would have been like carrying them away from home, and she couldn't use a fishing rod, even if she wished so bad to be a fisher, in another life. Her hair was always messy, not only in the mornings, and she preferred green ribbons to keep it in order. Green was maybe her favourite colour, but when asked, she would always reply her that her favourite was the shade of her eyes. And even the shade her cheeks turned every single time after she said that.

The Ice Queen kept moving her hands in the air, ice coming together to form curvy, gracious shapes and wires floating in the air. They twirled in a silent dance, finally revealing their true identity.  
>An orchestra of ice, violins and arcs standing near trumpets and a grand ice piano.<br>Snow started falling silently as she sat in front of it, caressing the keys for the first time since when she could see that smile every morning.  
>And she began to play.<br>A slow, tired melody, violins following it without the need of anyone to stroke their chords.  
>That man at the Tavern had asked her what her biggest fear was. And she had gone away, knowing the answer way too well.<br>She also knew the answer Hades had given her before, in the Prairies.

Her biggest fear was losing Anna.

And it was true. Something of the people we loved and still love lives through us. Like scars. And some scars never heal.  
>For so much, she had believed that her inner scar was the control of her father, his influence on her.<br>But when she had asked Hades that question, she knew she had been wrong.

_«...is there really no way I can see her, Hades? Just once. I need to see her. Take me to her.»  
>«I wish I could. I really wish it. But it's the law of the Underworld, darlin'. We can't see the people we knew during life. Much less the ones we loved. As soon as we approach them, they would disappear forever. And forever is an awfully long time.»<br>_  
>Her biggest fear was losing Anna.<br>And that night, she had realized she did for real.  
>She was losing her.<br>And there was nothing she could do about that.

A single tear fell on the piano, while the music kept playing.

The worse thing about losing someone is that feeling you get after a while. When their scent isn't impressed in their clothes anymore, when you can't quite recollect the sound of their laugh, or the particular shade of their eyes when they reflect in the sunlight, that little flaw in their smile, the way they wave their hands to say goodbye.  
>The feeling that you are forgetting them, like if memories were shards of sand in your hands and they kept falling between your fingers, and once they blended with the sand you couldn't find them ever more.<p>

But she wouldn't have forgotten, she decided in that moment.  
>She had always liked to listen to her voice. She wondered what her last words had been.<br>Her first one had been her name.

The Ice Queen whispered a question to the wind, and stopped playing.  
>Anna's eyes, her reflection in the vanity, her white silk nightgown, the way she said her name. Her tinted freckles, the hot chocolate she left on her desk every day. Their linked fingers in October, their kisses in December. Her red scarf and her green sweater. Her obsession for freshly baked bread and rusty fishing boats.<p>

Anna reading a book near the fireplace, feet swaying in the air and the firelight caressing her skin.  
>Anna sitting on the grass, hunting for leaves and asking her what was wrong.<br>Anna eating a salmon sandwich and telling her about how much she wanted a little cottage in the village, a simple life for the two of them, fishing and baking bread and listening to the rain falling on the rooftop.  
>Anna sharing chocolate with her, using it to steal some kisses, ice surrounding them in an empty, cold room.<br>Anna.

It was true.  
>Some scars never heal.<br>And loving someone and being deeply loved in return leaves a mark on us. It crawls under our skin and changes us. And even when that love is gone, and won't come back anymore, that mark remains.

She could have had forever.  
>And Anna didn't.<br>But Anna's love would live through her.  
>That was the mark she would have been carrying.<br>Forever.

«Do you want to build a snowman, Anna?»

.

The violins kept playing.

.

«I do.»


	8. αμφιβολία - Doubt

Doubt

**Ꮬ**

**αμφιβολία**

**Ꮬ**

_Maybe they knew too much._

* * *

><p>Hades entered the Throne Room while Elsa was exiting it, and so they happened to clash into each other.<br>«Oh, excuse me, Mademoiselle!» the God smirked, in a _terrible_ accent.  
>Elsa wrinkled her nose.<br>«Please, leave the French to Facilier».  
>Hades chuckled.<br>«The Sun has already set» he then pointed out. «Where are you going?»  
>«I have work to do» Elsa raised the list she held in one hand. A mischievous smirk had become the code to indicate what type of work she was referring at.<br>Hades nodded, but when Elsa tried to walk past him he grabbed the paper from her hand with a quick movement. Elsa blinked.  
>«What are you doing?»<br>«I think you have worked enough in these days» Hades replied. «Why don't you go to the tavern and relax? I'm gonna take care of your work for tonight».

Elsa frowned, suspicious. Hades felt a shiver running behind his back and took it as an advice.

«No» she affirmed, sharp.  
>«Why not?» the God asked.<br>«Because every time you break the routine it means you have something in mind».  
>«I'm just trying to be a gentleman».<br>«Stop trying and give me the list».

Hades didn't obey. He blinked.  
>«Is this still because of…»<br>«No it's not» Elsa replied too fast for the God to believe her.  
>«That is in the past. And I told you, you should learn to <em>erase<em> your past. We talked about it. I have nothing more to hide from you».  
>Elsa crossed her arms.<br>«I can't believe you».  
>«Oh, come on!» Hades sighed. «This is what I get when I'm only trying to help you? Just bring your lovely ass to the tavern and get drunk».<p>

Elsa didn't move and ignored Hades' words.  
>She knew that the God was hiding something. She felt it.<br>Still…

«At one condition» she negotiated.  
>«If I only had imagined it would have been so difficult…» Hades muttered between his teeth. Elsa pointed at the list with one finger.<br>«You're not gonna take care of the one I was going after tonight, but of the next one. So I hope you have no tricks planned, or they will go wasted».  
>Hades merely cocked one eyebrow, which actually the woman didn't expect.<br>«Are you done?»

_Maybe he really didn't have something planned, this time?_

Elsa shrugged. She didn't fear him anyway.  
>«Yes, done. See you later».<br>And walked away.  
>«I hope to find you drunk, dear!»<br>«Do not get your hopes up, _dearest_».

Hades watched her disappearing from his sight. He shook his head.  
>Elsa thought she knew him well.<br>That was true.  
>But Hades knew her just as well as she did, or at least, he knew what he needed to make her believe things went as she planned, and not by his will.<p>

**Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ********Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ******  
><strong>****************

«I won again».  
>Facilier said it even before showing his cards, that did nothing more than prove his statement. Both Elsa and Pitch Black, sitting in front of him, nodded without showing surprise.<br>«I wonder» the Boogeyman said, handing him a sachet of money, «if you're a really unbeatable player or just a cheater».  
>«Is there a difference, <em>mon-ami<em>?» Facilier smirked. «You have to cheat to become unbeatable and be unbeatable to cheat».  
>Pitch rolled his eyes.<br>«I drank too much for your pearls of wisdom, tonight».  
>Elsa, on the other hand, appeared interested. She scratched her chin with the pinkie's nail.<br>«Is that true?» she questioned. «I think that if you're unbeatable, you don't need to cheat at all».  
>Facilier snapped his tongue and picked up the cards, mixing them again for the next match. Elsa could still see the Queen of Hearts moving between his hands.<br>«Good point» the illusionist said. «It's more or less what every single one of us thought in some moment of our life. And you know what we accomplished?»  
>He opened his arms – where was the deck? – to indicate the whole community of diners in the tavern.<br>«Nothing» he answered by himself.

Elsa frowned. The look Facilier had in his eyes, it almost seemed like he was talking about her, too.  
><em>Did she accomplish nothing?<em>

«Do you agree?» before the woman could speak, the illusionist turned to Pitch.  
>The Boogeyman nodded, stroking his hair with one hand.<br>«I guess we all got a little… Overconfident, at some point» he admitted. He looked at Elsa with his golden eyes and the blonde realized she wasn't capable of reading behind them. «It's something no one of us can learn but on his own skin. We did great plans, we waited, we fought, we cheated, but when we finally got what we wanted, we simply… Forgot to look around».  
>Elsa frowned again. Facilier laughed a little.<br>«Excellent analysis» he confirmed, mixing the deck that had mysteriously reappeared. «We all misfits got what we desired in our past, make it money, power, vengeance, love or… _Visibility_» he laughed at his own joke and Pitch snorted, stung to the quick. Elsa had lowered her eyes at the mention of love, but it was just for an instant. «But then we thought that our game was over, and it wasn't. We showed our Straight Flush and we didn't expect the enemy to put down a Royal Flush».

He opened his hands while talking, showing five cards in the right – Five, Four, Three, Two and Ace of Clubs – and other five in the left – Ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of Hearts.  
>The rest of the deck was in the middle of the table, and both Elsa and Pitch wondered how did it arrive there.<p>

Elsa drummed the fingers on the table.  
>«So, you're saying that the only way to get what you want and to keep it is to cheat?» she asked.<br>«It depends on the object of desire, _cherie_» Facilier grinned. «But in general, you should never forget the game you're playing. Never forget about the other players. Always look in their eyes and try to guess the cards they have, even if you're sure to own a winning hand. This is what our past teaches us».

Silence, for a little while. They heard Hook asking for another bottle of rum.

«Someone told me» Elsa resumed, «that we should learn to erase our past».  
>Pitch hissed a laugh.<br>«Well, tell that someone he's an idiot» he replied. «It's not something _we_ can do. We, the misfits, the _villains_. We are bonded to our past, forever».  
>«We could even say» and Facilier's purple eyes shone as he smirked, «that <em>we wouldn't exist<em> if it wasn't for our past».  
>Elsa was about to open her mouth when another voice preceded hers.<br>«How is it going, folks? I'm _dying_ for something to drink!»

Hades appeared from the darkness and greeted the little group.  
>Elsa frowned for a moment, then rolled her eyes.<br>«You're an idiot» she mumbled.

Pitch, next to her, grinned.

«Well, it's not my fault if you don't appreciate my _burning_ sense of humour» Hades replied.  
>«You arrived just in time for the next match, Hades» Facilier showed the deck.<br>«I don't think so, I don't have money to waste tonight. I just want to drink. Pitch, you come with me?»  
>The God patted the Boogeyman on the shoulder and he shrugged, then got up and followed him.<br>«Hades» Elsa called, «what about…?»  
>The God simply showed her the thumb up before disappearing in the dark.<p>

Elsa sat there, frowning.  
>If erasing her past was not the reason…<br>…then why Hans?

Why did Hades send her there?  
>He was cheating to achieve… What?<p>

Facilier muttered.  
>«"I don't have money to waste"! More like you hate to lose…»<br>Elsa got up, the chair creaked.  
>«I'll go too» she said. «Mind if I ask you something else, before?»<br>«I'm always ready to help you with my knowledge, if I can» the illusionist took off his hat in respect and grinned, and Elsa couldn't be sure if he was serious or just teasing her.

«You said that everyone of us lost what they desired in the end».  
>«It's a peculiarity of the guests, here» he nodded.<br>«Maleficent did? Ursula, Hook, Scar?»  
>«Of course».<br>«Pitch?»  
>«He too».<br>«Hades?»  
>«Oh, Hades lost basically everything!»<br>«And you?» the Ice Queen slammed the hands on the table, a little of triumph in her eyes, as she was about to beat Facilier on his own game. «You said you always win. Is that not true?»

Facilier smirked, slowly. He seemed proud of Elsa's look in her eyes.  
>«I said it and I repeat it» he affirmed. «In fact, you may say <em>that<em> _I won even in my loss_».

Elsa frowned, her assuredness staggered. Facilier's eyes shone again.  
>He picked up one card and showed it on the table: Ace of Clubs.<br>«What about you, _cherie_? What did _you_ lose?»  
>It was more than enough for Elsa to walk away, leaving the sign of her hands as a thin icy patina on the table.<p>

**Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ********Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****************

_«Elsa?»  
>«Yes, Anna?»<br>«That one looks like a giant chocolate cake.»_

_The redhead pointed her finger to the sky, tracing the blurred borders of a white cloud.  
>The grass was humid under their backs and the ground smelled of rain, and Elsa was adamant that their dresses would have been spotted in brown and green by the end of that late spring afternoon. But, she found with a note of pleasure in her mind, she didn't care as she had expected to.<br>Anna had convinced her to steal some chocolate and bread from the kitchens, a thing the redhead had mastered an incredulous ability in through the years, and she had also managed to cover the eyes of the Queen of Arendelle and bring her to a spotless clearing in the woods, grass threads tickling their ankles and bare feet tasting the ground._

_Elsa turned her head to the left, meeting Anna's gaze, the finger still pointed upwards. Her sister smiled goofily, cheeks rising and showing those tiny wrinkles that decorated her eyes so perfectly.__  
>And she could do nothing but smile back, before turning her head to face the clouds again, hands peacefully folded in her lap, while Anna preferred to keep hers tucked under her head.<br>«That one looks like you, look!»  
>«It looks like a <em>_**cloud**__, Anna.»  
>«Not at all.»<br>«And then why does it look like me?»  
>«Because it's beautiful.»<em>

_Silence.  
>A peaceful one, gentle breezes waving their hair locks in the crisp spring air.<em>

_«That one looks like an ocean wave.»  
>«And here comes the melancholic and poetic Queen of GuiltyLand, everyone.»<br>«Oh, shut up.»_

_Laughter.  
>Anna nudged at Elsa's side, placing a kiss on the tip of her nose.<br>She pretended the clouds were more interesting than a probably near heart stroke, when Anna decided to curl up by her side and slide her arms around the blonde's waist. The wind blew softly, and the smell of rain filled their nostrils, promises of warm covers and cookies already running in their minds._

_«But seriously, look at you.»  
>Elsa tilted her head sideways, just to meet Anna's gaze. She was smiling, and her eyes were glimmering in admiration.<em>_  
>She was not sure why Anna kept looking at her like that, sometimes.<em>_  
>Time had flew so rapidly since those autumn days, when they avoided each other, pulled away by the fear of feelings, by guilt, by the possibility of their actions.<em>

_Somehow, Elsa had managed to keep calm. To listen to Anna. To let her sister hold her at night, when tears were saved from the light of day and they were free to run down her cheeks. She had managed to be the rock Anna could cling to during windy days, disguising her real nature of broken windmill.__  
>She had managed to move on.<em>

_And now there she was.  
>The Queen of Arendelle.<br>Lying on wet grass.  
>Bare feet waving in the humid air, bread and chocolate not far from them.<em>

_She smiled.  
>«I do that every morning in the mirror, Anna.»<br>Her sister simply rolled her eyes.  
>«Not that way. In a different one.»<br>«And which one, if I may ask?» she questioned, furrowing her brow in curiosity.  
>Anna smiled again, fingers lingering on the blonde's cheeks.<em>

_«I wish you could see yourself as I can. Look at your jaw» she began, her hands slowly cupping her sisters' cheeks._

_The light freckles on your nose» she moved closer, breath tickling skin and eyes wandering to find blue counterparts._

_«Your eyes. Your eyebrows. That thing you do with your hands when you are frustrated and you bring them behind your neck. The shade your ears turn whenever someone compliments you. Everything, Elsa.» she whispered, and stopped any reply with a soft pressing of lips._

_Silence._

_And then, laughter._

_«Oh, Elsa, you're as red as Gerda's favourite cloak!»_

_It was a windy day, with clouds running in the blue sky above them and humid grass holding bread and chocolate.__  
>A light drizzle began to pour again, but Anna found she didn't care at all.<em>_  
>Elsa's arms simply slid around her waist, and they laid there, backs against the cold rock, freezing fingers linked to each other.<em>

_«You know what I´m thinking?»  
>«No, Anna».<br>«I think we are like clouds»._

_Elsa blinked, confused.  
>«Like clouds?»<br>«Yes. Look at them» and she pointed at the sky, and her smile was __**so bright**__, that Elsa saw the Sun hide in shame. «They are a lot, all separate, but then from time to time they meet each other and never let go. They hug and become one single being».  
>«I believe it´s more complicate than that».<br>«They are just little spots in the sky, but they are so important to make the sky look beautiful» Anna looked at her sister and Elsa felt it again – the desire of drowning in her eyes. «We are like clouds. We are little parts of something bigger, and when we come in touch we make that something look beautifuller, even if we can´t see it»._

_Elsa glared at the sky again, glared at the clouds hugging._

_«More beautiful» she corrected in a soft whisper. «You're terrible, Anna.»_

_She smiled and kissed Elsa again, moving a blonde strand behind her ear, feeling the warmth of Elsa's breath bleeding with her own, the scent of rain between a kiss and a curving of lips._

_«But you love me anyway.»_

_A tired huff._

_«I'm afraid I do.»_

_**Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ********Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****************_

_Before._

.

Hades knew the real illness that afflicted all of his kind – the misfits, the leftovers, the villains – was just one.  
>Pride.<br>Pride, conceit.  
>He and the others had learned how dangerous could it be to confide in pride. Even if it didn't destroy them immediately, it opened the path to their failure.<p>

But that, Elsa didn't know. Elsa – the Ice Queen Elsa, the one people feared at night, the one that hid the scared young woman he had met that far away day – thought nobody could win over her, and after all, Hades believed she was right.  
>That didn't mean, however, that she could expect to be smarter than <em>him<em>.

Hades grunted as he walked in the snow, wondering why he always had to find himself in the middle of neverending white in a way or another.

He had foresaw and hoped that Elsa would have told him to take care of another name on the list, and not the one that was scheduled for that night. Everything had been attentively calculated.

Hades stopped and looked around, the moon enlightened the snow and made it gleam as a carpet of pearls: the place was the right one, he just had to find the house.  
>Why couldn't he live in a city like everyone else? What a bother.<br>Hades evoked a cigar, puffing smoke in the air. He continued walking, and it was only when the cigar was by now reduced to a stub that he heard an old and kind voice.

«Guys, come on, it's late. Go to the backyard and try to sleep».

The God of the Underworld climbed the snowy hill until he could finally see the house he was searching for: a simple and frugal place made out of wood, the roof all white.  
>He hid behind one tree and watched.<br>Three young cubs of reindeer were playing in the snow, running into each other and clashing with the hints of antlers that protruded from the fur on their head. They stopped, however, when they heard the command, and even if clearly disappointed moved around the house and disappeared in the backyard.

Under the porch, an old man smiled quietly as he watched them going away. He was sitting on a squeaky rocking chair, slowly swinging back and forth. The warm padded clothes he wore covered a still muscled body. His brown eyes looked around, the breeze slid between his white hair that seemed like they could have been rather light, time ago.  
>Hades waited behind the tree. He waited until all around was silence, and nothing could be heard but the creaking of the rocking chair. He didn't move while the wind howled, because he knew the wind was <em>her<em> servant and the last thing he wanted was to create witnesses.  
>When it stopped, he was surprised to discover and to think that the old man, maybe, had reasoned in the same way.<p>

«I was waiting for you».

It was the voice of a man who has spent his life quietly, tasting every day. The voice of a man who hasn't accumulated a lot of wisdom, but has enough knowledge – and is peaceful enough with himself – to not fear the night anymore.  
>He was not a lonely misfit, that was sure.<p>

Hades smirked and showed himself, coming out from behind the tree.  
>«You know who I am?» he inquired.<br>«I suppose you're the Death».  
>The God snapped his tongue.<br>«Lord of the Underworld is more appropriate, but I'll turn a blind eye».

The man smiled, swaying slowly.  
>«I knew you were coming» he said. «Since when I learned that Hans was dead, I knew».<br>«You knew _I_ was coming?» Hades cocked an eyebrow, strangely amused by his calm. «Why me and not _her_, the hand who killed the King of the Southern Islands himself?»  
>«I don't know. I just felt it».<br>The man let go of a gentle laugh.  
>«You can come closer, you know. My reindeers are too young to bite you» he frowned for a moment, concerned. «I hope someone will take care of them».<p>

Hades approached, silent. He climbed the porch's steps and stopped next to him, listening to the rocking chair creaking.  
>«Don't resent at me, man» he said. «It's nothing personal. You're a good person. You're not like the other names in the list. But I can't let you stay in this world anymore. Do you get me?»<br>«I do. I understand. When she-»  
>«<em>Oh, come on<em>» Hades snapped, severe, and interrupted him, «I was almost enjoying this conversation. Don't make me angry, you don't want to get to know my bad side. _Don't talk_».  
>The man nodded. The chair creaked.<br>«The wind has started again».  
>«Yeah».<p>

They both remained silent for a while. The wind howled and surrounded the house, as he was searching and spying.  
>«Will it hurt?» the man asked.<br>«Who do you think I am, an amateur? It will if I want. I don't want now».  
>«Thank you».<br>Hades cocked an eyebrow again.  
>«Why are you so calm about this?» he asked.<br>«One time» the man explained, «a person told me that our lives always come in touch, and this makes us part of something bigger, where we can't control or understand everything. I guess it was the truth» he turned to the God and smiled. The wind had left again, the search had been unsuccessful. «By the way, I didn't properly introduced myself. My name is Kristoff».  
>«I'm Hades».<br>«Go on, Hades. And I hope she will find what she is searching for, in the end».

He closed his eyes and waited.  
>For Hades it was very simple: Death was his power, just as ice was Elsa's. He moved in front of him, stretched one arm and closed his hand.<br>He couldn't perfectly see the soul in the dark of the night, but he knew that the Moirai had just cut another wire and Charon had just boarded another spirit.

For a moment, he wondered: did it hurt?  
>After all, he had never experimented death on himself.<p>

But the body was peaceful, and the eternal smile on the face too, and Hades felt something similar to the relief. He snapped his tongue, and went away.

In the silence, nothing could be heard but the faint creaking of a rocking chair.

**Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ********Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ**Ꮬ**Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****Ꮬ****************

«So, Pitch, did you miss my company during all this time?»  
>«Not for a single moment».<br>«That's why I like you: honest answers».  
>The God of the Dead and the Boogeyman both raised their glasses and cheered before drinking. Hades' hair had a twinkle of red while the alcohol descended in his throat.<br>«Wo-hoa!» he laughed. «Another?»  
>«You'll fill my glass anyway».<p>

Hades hissed a laugh of early drunkenness – Pitch could handle the alcohol a lot better than him – and grabbed the bottle in the middle of the table, pouring the liquor in both his and Pitch's glass. The Guardian of Nightmares turned around to look behind him: Elsa was at the counter, asking Scar for a Frostbite. The bartender promptly obliged.  
>«You know, she is different from what I had imagined her».<br>Hades emptied his glass again.  
>«I know, she's even more beautiful than words can describe».<br>«That too, but it was not what I meant» Pitch rolled his eyes. «I can smell her nightmares from here».  
>Hades shrugged.<br>«So?»  
>«It happens rarely. It means her nightmares are strong. However, she doesn't show fear in her eyes – she is powerful, but scared of her dreams» he shook his head, as he was trying to solve a problem without solution. «I don't understand».<br>«Drink up».

Pitch frowned while the God filled his own third glass. He bent over the table.  
>«I want to be honest with you, Hades, so I'll tell you the truth» he said, serious. «I didn't want to come back. I despise this place with all my mouldy heart. If I'm here is just because <em>you<em> contacted me and told me you needed my help. But if you don't tell me soon why you called me for, I'm going to assume you just wanted to tease me and you won't see me again tomorrow night».  
>«Oh, why don't you get drunk and learn a bit of patience?» Hades replied, annoyed. «I <em>do<em> need your help, okay? And I'm grateful you came back. But you'll have to wait. I need to make sure of something, first».  
>«Well, why can't you tell me what it would be about?»<br>«Reasons».  
>Pitch crossed his arms and sighed, resigned.<p>

_Why couldn´t he just leave?  
>Oh, he perfectly knew. <em>

«Reasons. Really?»  
>«Yep» Hades nodded, mouth behind his alcohol glass. They had almost instinctively lowered their voice, loud chattering and laughter covered their speech to anyone else. «Like the reasons I had to make her go there».<br>Pitch looked behind him to see if Elsa was still at the counter – she was, she was talking with Maleficent about something – and then turned to the God again.  
>«Ah, the man you mentioned to me before. And the one you took care of tonight. I still don't understand what the problem was, actually» he cocked an eyebrow. «What are you really up to, Hades?»<p>

It had been a long time since the God didn't come up with a mysterious plan. If that was it.

Hades chuckled lightly.  
>«Doubts. I had doubts about those men. Winter is coming, and I want to make sure it won't be just a snowfall. The bitter grass must be extirpated».<br>Pitch decided to drink his still full glass, snapping his tongue in a frustrated gesture: after a few drinks, Hades could become even more cryptic than Facilier.  
>«And what were your doubts?» he inquired.<br>The God grinned, his razor teeth shone at the light of the candle. The Devil's grimace.  
>«Maybe» and the candles next to their table flickered for a moment, «they knew too much. And maybe they knew that little tiny detail that I <em>forgot to mention<em> her».  
>He grabbed the bottle another time, and looked disappointed when he realized it was empty. He shrugged and smirked again, looking straight in Pitch's golden eyes.<p>

«Maybe they knew that the one she is looking so desperately for, the one she is seeking vengeance from, must not be searched in those lost and endless land. That the one who actually killed her sister…»

Silence.  
>Glares.<br>Elsa's laughter in the distance.

«…could be easily found in this room».


	9. παλίρροια - Tide

Tide

**Ψ**

_**παλίρροια**_

****Ψ****

_Who rules the oceans always knows about who dies in the sea?_

* * *

><p>Elsa exited the bathroom with still a towel in her hands, drying the last drops of water that had in turn washed away the blood from her nails. She reached the Throne Room just in time to find Pain and Panic, that screaming in pain were running around with their tales on fire.<br>«What the hell is going on here?»  
>Since the two imps didn't seem able to answer her she snorted, raised one hand and created two ice cubes in the middle of the room: Pain and Panic immediately jumped on them, releasing a breath of relief when they sat down.<br>«Ah… I needed it» Pain sighed. Panic nodded.  
>«What did you do this time?» Elsa cocked an eyebrow, leaving the towel on the armrest of her throne.<br>The imps stood up from the floor where the ice cubes had already melted.  
>«It was Lord Hades» Panic explained. «He's angry, and when he's angry he gets on fire. And when he gets on fire…»<br>«He needs targets to hit, I got it» Elsa interrupted him. She found a lot more interesting the voices that were coming from the door left half open, one certainly from the God of the Dead, and the other… was that the infernal ferryman?

The Ice Queen walked past the imps and directed herself out of the Throne Room, following the voices that became angrier step by step. A couple of souls had stopped to watch, too, but seeing her coming they hastened to move away.  
>When Elsa turned the corner, she already knew something wasn't right.<br>_She couldn't hear the water flowing_.

«There are thousands of souls waiting to come here! This is _your_ job, Charon!»  
>«And what do you expect me to do, Sir? Carry them on my back?»<br>«Well, you surely aren't paid to stand here and do _nothing_!»  
>«I'm not paid at all!»<br>«That's what I just said!»

Charon and Hades were arguing on the shores of the Acheron's River, next to the ferryman's boat that was there beached. But it wasn't a river anymore: just a deep groove in the ground.  
>The water was gone.<br>Not a single drop.  
>«Our business is going to be irretrievably compromised if those souls won't come here soon!»<br>«I know, but I'm not able to fly yet, Sir!»

«Would someone please explain me what is going on?»

Both of the litigants turned around when Elsa's voice – always sharp as her ice – cut the shouts between them.  
>«My Queen» the ferryman forgot about Hades and bowed his head. «We were debating about what happened to the river».<br>«I see» Elsa said. «You can go, Charon, you're not needed now».  
>The infernal ferryman immediately obeyed and walked away – and Hades wasn't pleased.<br>«I'm the one who gives orders here!» he exclaimed, the red flames on his body fussing and shaking.  
>«You should turn yourself off» the woman replied. «You're ridiculous».<br>Hades mumbled something, but eventually snorted and took a deep breath: the flames became blue again, just as his skin.  
>«Now» Elsa smiled, satisfied, «I'd like to know what is going on, if you don't mind. Is the third time I ask and you know I <em>hate<em> to repeat my questions».  
>Hades sighed and then leaned against Charon's boat.<br>«You know Poseidon, don't you?»

Elsa pondered, then nodded.  
>«The God of the Seas».<br>«That's right. He also happens to be my brother» he grimaced. «He's all buddy-buddy with Zeus and they hate me with the same fiery passion».  
>«This doesn't answer my question» Elsa made notice.<br>«Let me finish. Despite this, Poseidon actually upheld me after, well, my attempt to take over the Olympus. Zeus wanted to lock me up with the Titans, but Poseidon persuaded him to let me go. I hate to admit that it's thanks to him if I can see your beautiful face right now».  
>Elsa rolled her eyes and Hades chuckled a little.<br>«But» the God continued, «he didn't do it out of brotherly love. After a while he asked me a favour, and since I owed him I was forced to oblige».  
>«What did he want from you?»<br>«What does one want from the God of the Dead?» Hades smirked. «He asked me to kill a man. A man he hated more than everything, more than _me_ – unbelievable, isn't it? He said I had to kill him before he could go back to his home island and I said 'ok don't worry bro this is my job', but in the end, I kinda did not… Succeed».

Elsa grinned.  
>«Not a surprise».<br>«I _tried_, ok?! He didn't tell me that the man had Athena by his side. I came back with a black eye that day!»  
>«Oh, I would have <em>paid<em> to see that».  
>«Anyway» it was Hades' turn to roll eyes, «the man died eventually, but because of his own stupidity. And Poseidon didn't like it. He keeps coming back from time to time to remind me I still owe him».<br>«I guess we're coming closer to the answer I requested».  
>«You see this?!» Hades pointed at the groove that just the night before was filled with water. «This is <em>his<em> fault! He drained the Acheron's river, put my business at risk, so now I have to go to his damn underwater castle and beg him until he decides he has had enough fun» the God growled. «I hate everything».

«Don't be childish» Elsa said. «You don't have to beg, you have to negotiate. Don't tell me you're afraid of your brother!»  
>«I'm not afraid!» Hades replied. «It's just, you know, he can go to Zeus and make him lock me away whenever he wants. Also… Water. Fire. He is, I'd say, very unfairly advantaged».<br>Elsa snapped her tongue.  
>«Very well. But water can't do much against ice. Come on, let's go».<br>She turned around and started walking away, then stopped when she realized he wasn't following her.  
>«So? I have to find his castle alone?»<br>«You're coming with me?» Hades blinked, surprised.  
>Elsa huffed and raised one finger.<br>«I am, but let me be clear: it's for _my_ business. I have a long list of people to kill and I need Charon to be more active than ever. Let's go».

Hades didn't argue and went after her.

_**Ψ****Ψ**Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ**Ψ****Ψ**Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ******Ψ****Ψ**Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ******Ψ****Ψ**Ψ****Ψ****Ψ_**Ψ****Ψ**Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ**Ψ****Ψ**Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ****Ψ********_****  
><strong>******_

«This place is really… How can I say…»  
>«Wet».<br>«I would have found another adjective but yes, that too».  
>Walking along the hallways of Poseidon's underwater castle, Elsa couldn't help to notice the pomp that the whole palace radiated. It was nothing like the dark rooms of Hades' castle, with spooky lantern to show the safe way to follow.<br>This didn't mean she liked it more, of course.  
>The God was muttering something between his teeth in which Elsa recognized a couple of very strong insults.<br>«You really do hate him, don't you?» she asked with a smile disguised as a grin.  
>Hades stopped talking and looked at her. He shrugged.<br>«I don't _hate_. Hating is tiring. I simply indulge in comfortably indifference».  
>«Really?»<br>«_Okay_, there are few exceptions. But you know how they say… "More than enemies, they were brothers"».  
>Elsa didn't answer. Hades grinned.<br>«Oh, wait, I bet you knew the other version. "_More than lovers_…"»  
>«<em>Shut up<em>» Elsa growled and the God hushed. The smirk didn't go away but a few seconds after.

He liked to tease her.  
>Not because he liked to hurt her, oh, not that.<br>But it was a way to establish a connection.  
>A wicked way.<br>Weren't they all wicked, after all?

Queen and King of Hell stopped in front of the gates of the Throne Room. Elsa grabbed the handle shaped as a shell, but then Hades stopped her hand.  
>«I think is better if we don't enter together» he said. «You know, questions and stuff. Also the language I'll use may not be suitable for a Queen. Why don't you wait for me here?»<br>Elsa crossed her arms, annoyed.  
>«Do you take me for a doorstop? <em>You<em> will wait for _me_. Let's see how pompous your brother can be».  
>She turned around.<br>«You know» Hades called her, «this isn't your home».  
>«I'm a Queen» Elsa replied, «and this is a royal palace. It <em>is<em> my home».  
>She disappeared in the hallway and Hades pushed the door open.<p>

.

Poseidon, it seemed, could be actually pretty pompous.  
>Elsa found herself in the Art Galleries, where the walls were covered by portraits of different dimensions: they represented nymphs and goddesses, heroes, gods and demigods. Interesting, Elsa noticed, was the fact that most of them had been painted by gods and muses, but some authors were common mortals. Poseidon didn't really care when it came to art.<br>Besides the portraits, there were also statues, mostly women but sometimes copies of the God of the Seas himself.  
>Nobody ever did Hades a statue.<br>Nobody ever did her a statue, neither.

The marble figures looked like they were ready to breathe and walk away from the pedestal, but Elsa couldn't find them special.  
>Their beauty wasn't even comparable to <em>hers<em>.  
>To <em>Anna's<em>.  
>Nobody ever did Anna a statue. But Elsa didn't need it.<br>She was already carved in her mind.  
>She had always been.<p>

«Beauty is attracted to other beauty: I'm not surprised to find you here».

Elsa turned around: behind her, at the beginning of the hallway, a man had appeared. He had white hair and beard that made him look older than he probably was – but after all, he was a God, he was immortal, age didn't really matter – and wore a blue tunic. In the right hand he clutched a golden trident.  
>Elsa smirked.<p>

«Poseidon, I suppose».  
>«And you» the God nodded and approached, «must be the one everybody's talking about. Queen of the Underworld and fear of the humans. Elsa, the Ice Queen».<br>«Precisely».

Poseidon smiled and kissed the woman's hand.  
>«I'm not used to believe in gossips I hear, but I have to admit they were right: your beauty steals the one of all the portraits and statues in here».<br>Elsa withdrew the hand and crossed her arms.  
>«Is my beauty the only thing they talk about?» she cocked an eyebrow. «What about my powers? I don't kill people just by winking at them, you know».<br>Poseidon frowned.

He had wondered, when the echo of her work reached the abysses, what had Hades do to convince a young woman to go with him and become his sidekick.  
>But now that he was looking at her eyes, he got it.<br>She was not his sidekick, Hades was _hers_.  
>She was beautiful like Venus but dangerous like Eris.<br>Her beauty was dangerous and her dangerousness was beautiful.  
><em>Not that he feared her in any way<em>.

He gently bowed his head.  
>«Of course» he said. «I know who you are and what you do. And your powers are stunning. Ice and water, after all, are related».<br>«I don't think so» Elsa snapped her tongue. «Ice is an improvement of water. Ice is born from water, but then overpowers it».  
>«Ice turns in water eventually».<br>«Mine doesn't» Elsa smirked. «If I want, it just – disappears».

Poseidon didn't answer. Elsa walked near the statues, slowly.  
>«Just as you made disappear the water in the Acheron's river» she affirmed, caressing the marble arm of a muse. «From what I was told, it's your way to remind Hades he still owes you. But I have to admit I'm a bit annoyed – this hinders my work as well».<br>«I'm sorry to hear this» Poseidon replied, «but I'm sure you will understand: I asked Hades only one favour since we were born and he couldn't help me».  
>«You must have really hated that man to ask the God of the Dead, traitor of the Olympus, to get rid of him» Elsa grinned.<br>Poseidon sighed.  
>«I did».<br>«Who was him?»

The God of the Seas raised his eyes again.  
>«His name was Ulysses».<p>

The hand was removed from the statue's arm, leaving a thin ice patina on the marble.  
>Elsa forgot to breathe for a second – <em>«Do you think that Ulysses really missed his home?» <em>- before blinking and hiding memories behind her eyelids.  
>«Oh» she murmured. «I have heard of him».<br>She didn't say anything more to avoid stuttering.  
>«You know then that he blinded Polyphemus, one of my sons. I wanted revenge, but I couldn't manage anything else than keeping him away from his home island. So I asked Hades for help, but he failed. And when Ulysses died, it was not thanks to me nor my brother».<br>Elsa nodded slowly, thoughtful.  
>«Hades told me he tried» she then said, «but that Athena stopped him».<br>«Oh, his usual excuse!» Poseidon replied with a snort. «Come on, she's just a _woman_!»

Elsa gave him a death glare that the God didn't catch, his gritting teeth showing that he was probably still thinking about Ulysses. The blonde decided to let his words pass – this time.  
>She had a very good memory, after all.<p>

«If it's any consolation» she continued, «you didn't kill him, but forced him away from his home. And believe me, there's nothing worse than being away from who you love, not knowing if they're ok – and if they're not, knowing that if you were there you could help them. There's nothing worse than seeing their face every night in your dreams, and wake up to nothing. Nothing worse than fearing that you will never see them, touch them, hear them ever again. There's nothing worse than _knowing_ it».

Poseidon listened, but in the end he shrugged.  
>«But Ulysses saw them, touched them, heard them again. He came back home. He didn't die».<br>«He did, after».  
>«When he had already found his happiness again!»<p>

«And isn't it worse?» Elsa's smirk seemed to hide a rueful smile. «Dying when you have found a reason to smile again. Isn't it worse? When you're away from home, and pine every day and want to go back and _can't_, when all the places you visit and the things you discover are just ways to hide the emptiness that only your home could fill, when the hope to see your loved ones again starts to fade, you arrive to _desire_ death. Death stops the pain. Believe me, I think that Hades actually made you a favour, not killing him during his travels. Death doesn't really bother who is already dead inside».

The God of the Seas frowned and pondered her words. In some way, he felt like she wasn't talking about Ulysses, not completely, not anymore. But he couldn't find or imagine the truth that was hidden between her crimson lips.  
>They remained silent, staring at the paintings. On the canvas, a nymphs was running away from a faun. Elsa stared at the painted young girl and her red hair.<p>

«Oh, so here you are!»

Turning around, they found Hades approaching from the beginning of the hallway. Poseidon tightened his grip on the trident and Elsa blinked, her usual smirk again in place.  
>«Brother, long time no see. I could <em>drown<em> in tears of joy. I'm so _chocked_ _up_ that I will need _a glass of_ _water_ to recover».  
>«You haven't lost your horrible sense of humour» Poseidon grimaced while the God of the Dead patted on his shoulder.<br>Elsa covered her mouth with one hand and giggled. Hades considered it a great victory – she was teaming up with him.  
>«You met Elsa, I see» he said. «She is my beautiful Queen».<br>«I'm not yours in any way» the woman replied immediately. «If anything, _you_ are my puppet King».

Hades felt like he had claimed victory too soon.  
>Something he and the other villains very often did.<p>

«Yes, we were having a nice chat» Poseidon nodded.  
>«Well, gossip time's over, brother. We need to talk about the Acheron's river. I hope the cat didn't get your tongue… Because you know, cats like fish». Hades grinned, pleased by his own joke.<br>The God of the Seas eyed him and Elsa a couple of times.  
>There was something, in the blonde's smirk.<br>It tried to be similar the Hades' one, to appear wicked like his.  
>In some way, it was.<br>But there was something hidden behind it, that Poseidon couldn't recognize.

The God of the Seas shrugged.  
>«You know what, I'm not in the mood right now» he said. «We'll talk about what you owe me another day. Enjoy your river».<br>He snapped his fingers and both Hades and Elsa knew that Charon's boat was now navigating in the waters of the Acheron.  
>«Until next time, Elsa» Poseidon bowed his head. «And to you, Hades, it doesn't end here».<br>And with that, he walked away.  
>Hades watched his brother disappearing in the hallway, confused. Elsa moved next to him and crossed her arms, still grinning.<br>«What in the world did you do?» the God asked, slowly shaking his head in surprise.  
>«The one thing you're not good at:» Elsa winked. «negotiating».<p>

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«So, Hades, I heard that Elsa saved your ass again today».  
>The God gave Pitch a venomous glare. The Guardian of Nightmares sat down on the stool next to him.<br>«Hook's textual words».  
>«I could imagine».<br>Hades drank another sip of his Margarita de Fuego while Pitch asked Scar for a Black Velvet. When the bartender came back with the glass and walked away, only then Hades explained.  
>«Well, my brother, Poseidon – he's a real <em>nightmare<em> – had dried the waters of the Acheron's river, but she convinced him to fill it up again. That's it».  
>«Uh-uhm» Pitch drank a sip, not really interested. «Rivers, brothers… These are your concerns».<br>«What do you mean?»  
>Pitch looked around.<br>«It's been a while since I came back» he lowered his voice, but it wasn't really needed because the tavern was noisy enough to cover their conversation, «and you still haven't told me why you wanted me here».  
>Hades snorted and rolled his eyes.<br>«Don't make that face!» the Boogeyman replied. «Look, I wouldn't mind even if the reason was that you just enjoy my company. But I don't like to be made fun of».  
>«Patience, Pitch» Hades emptied his glass. «It's not like time's running after you. Or me, as well. You have to wait».<br>«I'm tired of waiting».

The black-haired raised his glass, only looking at it, not drinking.  
>«Sometimes you act like you think I´m stupid» he said. «But I´m not. I can <em>find<em> the truth, you know».  
>«Really» Hades grinned. «I thought your job was to spot the lies».<br>«That´s why it´s so easy for me to discover the truth: it´s always the last one».  
>Pitch put the glass down again and looked at the God.<br>«Elsa» he said. «She´s the reason I´m here. Am I close?»  
>«Maybe» Hades shrugged.<br>«You are planning something against her».  
>«Maybe».<br>«_Hades_» Pitch rolled his eyes, «spit it out. I will never believe you would have called me back without a serious reason. So just tell me and stop beating around that fucking bush».

_Or I´m going away._  
>But he didn't say it.<br>Because he wouldn't have gone away.

The God of the Dead chuckled.  
>«Okay, you win» he said. «I will tell you one little crumb of truth. Just one».<br>«Why not the whole thing?» Pitch asked.  
>«Because it´s not time yet».<p>

The Guardian of Nightmares considered the offer. He pondered the option of saying no.  
>«Go ahead» he sighed.<p>

_He had never an option when it was about Hades_.

The God burned the paper umbrella in his empty glass.  
>«The list» he revealed, serious all of sudden. «The list I gave Elsa, the one she consult before killing. There´s something hidden behind it».<br>«The two men you had doubts about?»  
>«Also. But not only. Something bigger, something that I can´t control. Not anymore».<br>Pitch frowned, hiding the twinkle of concern in his eyes.  
>«What are you talking about?»<p>

Hades smirked again.  
>«One little single crumb, Pitchy bird. Wait for the rest».<br>The black-haired snorted, but didn´t dispute. It would have been useless.  
>«You love to have everything under your power, don´t you?» he said, and emptied his glass as well.<br>Hades shook his head, slowly.  
>«Believe me, my almost friend: I have less power than you imagine».<p>

Silence, for a while.

«And anyway, just to let you know, I do enjoy your company very much».  
>«You're not known to be reliable, flamboyant man» Pitch smiled a little. «But I do, too».<p>

.

The Company's table counted two chairs less, because Maleficent and Hook had already gone away. Maleficent said she had to go back to her kingdom, and Hook had been sent home right after when he munched something about the sorceress and Queen Aurora. So, at the table, there were only Elsa and Ursula left.  
>The sea's witch looked very interested in Elsa's meeting with Poseidon.<br>«And tell me, how was his royal palace?» she was asking, shining eyes.  
>«Very… Royal» Elsa cocked an eyebrow. «You know, Ursula, I don't completely understand if you admire him or are just envious».<br>The sea's witch huffed.  
>«I'm envious, of course» she muttered. «He has everything I've always wanted. He is even more powerful than Triton. Poseidon is the God of the <em>Seas<em>, of all the seas. His powers are ten times stronger than Triton's».  
>«And twenty times stronger than <em>yours<em>».  
>Ursula coughed in her own drink.<br>«That was rude».  
>«I just tell the truth» Elsa shrugged. «Since you've been defeated once, you aren't doing anything to try to conquer the seas again».<br>«I still have to recover from the scar…» Ursula massaged her belly. «And you know, it's not something I can do all of sudden. I need a plan. And a trident, most of all».  
>Elsa toyed with the little paper umbrella in her empty glass, slowly freezing it.<br>«Would any of the two tridents be ok?» she asked. «What's the difference between Poseidon's trident and Triton's one?»  
>«Well, their power and importance» Ursula explained. «With Triton's, I could rule over a small percentage of sea. With Poseidon's» and here she laughed, like it was a scenario too unlikely to be even dreamed, «I could rule over all the seas of world and Underworld. Every single drop of water, oceans, lakes, rivers, would be under my control».<br>«And what could you do then?»  
>«Everything» the sea's witch stretched arms and tentacles as to show the infinity of her possibilities. «I could create tsunamis and deciding the floods; horrible monsters would come out the water if I wanted to; I'd know whatever would happen in any sea. If somebody drowned, I'd know it. I would have probably done it, anyway» she laughed a little.<br>Elsa frowned and looked at her.  
>«Do you mean» she inquired, «that who rules the oceans always knows about who dies in the sea? And usually is the cause?»<br>«Of course» Ursula answered.  
>Elsa remained silent, mind lost somewhere else.<p>

_Poseidon knew about everyone who ever died in the seas.  
>And maybe he had caused their death.<em>

She shrugged.  
>«Interesting».<br>And said nothing more.

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_Her milky skin was like a veil of snow, glittering in the moonlight, and her bare shoulders gracefully danced echoing the rhythm of her breaths, the fireplace drawing golden and copper shadows on her arms, her collarbones, her spine. Sitting there, on the edge of the bed, half covered by the white sheets as she was reading her favorite book, she looked like a goddess came down to Earth. It was not as if she was some immortal, untraceable entity with blurred features and a foggy voice, no.__  
>When the other girl got nearer, and circled her waist with bare arms, she felt her flinch at the touch. Then her limbs relaxed, and as she rested her chin on her shoulder, silently peeking at the spilled ink on the paper, she inhaled the scent of that pearl white skin.<em>_  
>It was not like she was some immortal goddess. It was like fresh fallen snow, blending silently with red autumn leaves and their warmth.<br>Anna smiled, and Elsa tensed as she whispered the lines she was reading._

_«I long for home, long for the sight of home._  
><em>If any god has marked me out again<em>  
><em>for shipwreck, my tough heart can undergo it.<em>  
><em>What hardship have I not long since endured<em>  
><em>at sea, in battle! Let the trial come.»<em>

_Anna almost sniffed, a pearl hairlock resting on the tip of her nose, as she asked the next question._  
><em>«Elsa?»<em>  
><em>«Mh?»<em>  
><em>«Why do you like the Odyssey so much?»<em>

_The answer didn't come immediately, as if her sister had to carefully think about it. Elsa relaxed her shoulders, right hand fidgeting with her ivory robe, closing the book but keeping a finger between the pages, as if she was scared to lose her trail of thoughts, to break the magic moments of peace they were having, like when they were little: Anna rolling on the bed, and Elsa reading her out loud some of their favourite lines._  
><em>It was not like they weren't aware of responsibilities, duties, and responsibilities again. But lately, in that cold January, Anna would sneak into Elsa's room every single night, ready to hear another bit of that tale they both loved, the tale of Ulysses, that never saw his home as it was again, yet never let it go from his heart.<em>

_«I like the Odyssey because it's the story of a man being away from home for twenty years, and when he comes back the first to recognize him is his dog.»_  
><em>Elsa drew a lopsided smile, tilting her head to let her eyes wander on Anna's face. From her own, the redhead decided to turn words into actions.<em>  
><em>And that was why, mere seconds later, the gracious and delicate princess of Arendelle was pining the fierce, powerful queen of the frozen fjords to the bed, tickling her stomach and pretending she was deaf to pleas of mercy.<em>

_«Anna, please, stop!»_  
><em>«You, my dear, have been found guilty of teasing the heir to Arendelle's throne, who happens to be myself, Princess Anna of Arendelle, sister of the majestic and insufferable Queen Elsa of Arendelle, and are hereby sentenced to death by tickling.»<em>  
><em>«Anna, seriously, stop it!» Elsa giggled harder, trying to escape the grip Anna had on her. Who knew if she really wanted to.<em>  
><em>«Not until I receive formal apologies, milady»<em>  
><em>«Okay, okay, as you said!» tears were starting to creep at the corner of Elsa's eyes, and Anna rolled her own irises, falling to the side when she stopped, letting blonde and copper hair blend like ocean waves on white bedsheet.<em>

_She turned around, only to find Elsa's face- flushed, rushed, embarrassed Elsa's face- mere inches from hers.  
>Elsa was beautiful.<br>And it was not just a statement. It was a simple and clean evidence. In the mornings, during rainy days, reading next to the fireplace at night. Elsa was beautiful in the way her eyes wrinkled when she laughed, and in the freckles dusting her cheeks like stars in sunny April evenings- they could be spotted only by eyes that were careful, patient, and gentle. Elsa deserved nothing more than gentle brushes, and warm words. Warm like the hummingbird heartbeat that Anna could feel now, when she rested her head on Elsa's ribcage and pale, slender fingers ran through copper strokes, their breaths speaking instead of mouths.__  
>Elsa was beautiful when she walked on her tiptoes in the mornings, trying not to wake her up, and when she opened the curtains to let the sun come in, with golden light embracing her shoulders, her neck. Elsa's neck was beautiful, the way it held Anna's kisses, the way it showed her breath. Elsa was beautiful when she walked, when she smiled gently, when she closed her eyes after a long day. Elsa was beautiful.<em>

_«Anna?»_  
><em>«Y-yes?»<em>  
><em>«I think you got lost in your mind again.»<em>

_She raised, meeting blue irises. She wondered if Ulysses had that look in his eyes, too._

_«Where is your home, Elsa?»_  
><em>«Wherever you are.»<em>

_And she couldn't help it. She raised her head and she clung to her sister's shoulders, pressing their lips together, trying to put everything- every unspoken word, every missed day, everything- in those hands cupping cheeks, those lips caressing collarbones, their breaths forgetting the Odyssey._

_They were there, and somewhere out in the world someone was dying, but they were _there_, and they were alive, and she loved Elsa more than anything.  
>And that was more than enough.<br>But, apparently, not for her sister.  
>Elsa put her hands between them, parting from the kiss they were sharing, and averted her gaze to the windows facing the night sky. She bit her lip, and closed her eyes, releasing a breath she didn't know she had been holding.<em>

_«Anna, I- we- this is not okay.»_  
><em>And there they were, the words that she so wished to not hear.<em>  
><em>It had been some time. Being Anna, even a week was a lot of time to keep patience, but not with Elsa. With Elsa, Anna could have been patient for years, if asked, and everyone knew that.<em>  
><em>So she slowly distanced from the Queen, and let her back fall on the mattress again, staring at the ceiling.<em>  
><em>«You know, it's not like you performed a spell or something on me, I love you» she whispered, eyelids closed, searching for Elsa's hand in the dark- and she found it. She would always find Elsa, even the tiniest bits of her. In the cold bedsheets at night, in the sound of closing- and opening- doors, in the warmth of two arms holding her in place, in a concerned voice reminding her that stairs had to be taken one step at a time, and not four or five. In a brush left on a drawer, in chocolate and in the word 'chocolate' itself.<em>  
><em>Anna couldn't imagine her life without Elsa. It simply wasn't an option. And she wanted Elsa to know that, she wanted that so badly. She wanted Elsa to release the weight on her shoulders, she wanted to see sparkled of joy in her eyes.<em>

_And if that meant holding hands until the day Elsa would come running to her- and Elsa didn't run, she always liked to correct Anna, _royals don't run_- screaming to go and have a snowball fight with hot cocoa involved, until that day, then Anna would have waited.__  
>«I know you would» came the answer.<br>Anna froze.  
>«Did I say all of that out loud?»<br>«...yes.»_

_Silence._  
><em>Then, a gentle hand squeezed hers, and she could feel a cold, tiny nose take place between her neck and collarbone, Elsa's arm circling her waist with the utmost care in the world.<em>  
><em>Elsa's palm, cold against her own, the rain falling outside.<em>  
><em>Elsa's skin was cold, tremendously so. Yet, Anna would always find warmth in her, in her words, in her looks, in her touch.<em>  
><em>She brushed her thumb on icy hands. Elsa had scars, but the deeper ones weren't on her skin. She knew it. And she also knew that little mark in Elsa's inner wrist, and she didn't know where it came from, but she loved it, she loved that scar on milky skin and she loved everything else- everything.<em>

_«I know why you do it. Sometimes I think about them too» she whispered, and she felt Elsa nod in the crook of her neck._  
><em>«I miss them everyday. And I just wonder what it'd be like if they were here, Anna.»<em>  
><em>«Say that again.»<em>  
><em>«I miss-»<em>  
><em>«Not that. My name. Say my name again.»<em>  
><em>«...Anna.»<em>

_Raindrops fell heavier as they clung to each other. And with every breath the sky took, their lips crushed, waves rocking to the shore._  
><em>Elsa's favourite place was the sea. The ocean. Its sounds. The shades of blue, the lanterns and the morning fog. Anna knew that. And she knew that Elsa liked to pretend she wasn't shattered as the waves against the rocks during a tempest.<em>

_And by reaction, Anna liked to pretend they could have fixed all of that.  
>She liked to pretend the whole world wasn't a mess, and that they were together and nothing else mattered.<br>Because no matter what, sometimes the heroes need to be saved, too.  
>Elsa was her hero. She had always been.<em>

_«...Elsa?»_  
><em>«...yes?»<em>  
><em>«I know you're falling asleep, but can you just tell me why you keep reading me the Odyssey after all these years?»<em>

_Anna liked to pretend._  
><em>She liked to pretend the rain on her boots wouldn't have ruined them.<em>  
><em>She liked to pretend the smell of chocolate didn't have a heavy effect on her.<em>  
><em>She liked to pretend that <em>No, Gerda, I didn't break any armor lately, really_.  
><em>_She liked to pretend that Kristoff didn't know, because no, _he can't_.  
><em>_She liked to pretend she hadn't heard rumors running across the streets of the fjords.  
><em>_She liked to pretend that scar on Elsa's wrist didn't exist.  
><em>_Anna liked to pretend, she liked to pretend they were just common people lying on a common bed._

_She liked to pretend Elsa was fine.  
>Because if Elsa was fine, she would have been fine too.<em>

_And she knew all of that would have never been real, and that love was not the same as paper novels._  
><em>She knew that the outside world wasn't kindergarten.<em>  
><em>She knew that when people push away, for a while they have been holding each other.<em>  
><em>She knew that paper cuts don't heal with fire.<em>

_She pretended, she knew._  
><em>But that night, with Elsa's nose in the crook of her neck, and cold arms around her waist, she had never felt something more real in her entire existence.<em>  
><em>And really, if for that night Elsa could smile and hold her without a word, then she could, too.<em>  
><em>They would have been fine.<em>  
><em>And that was all that mattered.<em>

_«...because no matter what, like Ulysses and Penelope, I'll always find a way to come back to you.»_

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Elsa didn´t know exactly how she had found the place.  
>When she asked Facilier where Pitch lived, the illusionist didn´t give her a precise answer. He said something about dark and nightmares and "walking until your hopes are fading and you wish to sleep", but she hadn´t understood.<br>She had tried, anyway.  
>And, as often, Facilier was right.<p>

The blonde queen was now descending the stairs of Pitch´s lair, her heels made every step echoing in the silence. Black was the dominant colour – the only one? – and Elsa´s dress was almost mixed to the darkness.  
>She looked around when she reached the end of the stairs, pulling one side of her cloak: Pitch´s castle reminded a huge labyrinth. There were different stairs that brought to darker rooms, bridges, and weird cages hanging from the ceiling – empty, some of the half open, Elsa wondered if once something or someone had been trapped there.<br>The place looked like it was about to collapse on itself. It had no logic sense, or at least, not one Elsa could see.  
>Just like nightmares doesn´t.<p>

«Pitch?» she decided to ask, her voice bounced back against the walls. «Are you home?»  
>She waited in the silence for a few seconds. When the black sand in the air itched her nose, she turned around.<br>Two horses appeared from the darkness and walked towards her. Elsa tilted her head, intrigued: they seemed to be made by sand, and when one of the two puffed, black grains flew out its muzzle.  
>«Step back, quadrupeds» the Ice Queen ordered, sharp, and stretched one arm in their direction. The horses slowed, looking at each other with their flaming eyes, unsure of what to do.<p>

«Quiet, boys, she's a guest».

The horses immediately stopped. Elsa looked around, confused, since the voice seemed to come from every direction. She couldn´t help but jump when, slewing, she found Pitch just a few inches from her.  
>«A very welcome guest, I may add».<br>The blonde moved her braid behind her back while Pitch walked towards the horses and caressed their muzzles.  
>«Forgive them» he said, «they are not used to strangers».<br>Elsa scratched her chin.  
>«I didn´t know you liked pets» she muttered.<br>«Hah, I don´t» Pitch laughed. «They are my minions. Nightmares Horses, thoroughbred among the best. They ran from place to place, bringing bad dreams with them» he looked at her with his golden eyes and smirked. «I´m surprised they never came to visit you».  
>Elsa stiffened and decided to ignore him.<p>

«I wanted to ask you a couple of things» she started.  
>«Oh, how rude from me» Pitch interrupted her. He snapped his fingers and the horses disappeared in an instant, they exploded and released the black sand they were made of in the air. The Guardian of Nightmares moved his hand and the sand compacted again, forming two skeletal but elegant armchairs, one behind Elsa and one next to him. «Please, make yourself comfortable».<br>The Ice Queen accepted the invitation and sat down. Pitch did the same.  
>«I'm all ears».<br>Elsa drummed her fingers against the armrests, thoughtful.

«Do you think I´m stupid, Pitch?»  
>The Guardian of Nightmares cocked one eyebrow.<br>«I don´t understand».  
>«Just answer me. Do you think I´m stupid?»<br>He snapped his tongue.  
>«Of course not, dear. You wouldn´t be one of us if you were».<br>Elsa bent forward, narrowing her eyes.  
>«Then» she hissed, «what are you and Hades planning?»<br>Pitch remained immobile, like he hadn´t heard a single word. He blinked, and pondered the question.

Planning.  
>It had been so long since the last time he had planned something. Since everyone from the tavern did. They were all out of business and they didn´t wish to start again, let it be laziness, fear or lack of ideas.<br>Everyone but Hades.  
>He and the God of the Dead had known each other for a long time, and Pitch had never seen him resigned to admit that the "good guys" had won. Hades wanted to go back in business. Not taking over the Olympus again, oh no – he just wanted <em>action<em>. He wanted something to happen. He couldn´t stand the monotony, the unceasing repetition of years.  
>And Pitch feared for him, because Hades was not one that settled easily. He wanted more and more and more – and in the end, he would have ended up with <em>nothing<em>, again. It was their destiny. But Hades couldn´t accept it.  
>And Pitch would have liked to help him, he would have – but he had no idea, at all, of what Hades had in mind.<br>And he decided to be sincere, for a change.

«I don´t know».  
>«Nonsense» Elsa replied. «Do you think I didn´t notice you two talking all the time? You are planning something, and I want to know what it is».<br>«_I _am not planning anything. If Hades is, he didn´t tell me. I´m not a mind reader».  
>It was the truth, after all.<br>He couldn´t read minds.  
>He just knew people and their most stupid, crazy, hopeless desires.<p>

Elsa´s fingers started drumming again against the armrests.  
>«I don´t believe you» she said. «You came back from who knows where and all of sudden you decided to stop here, just when strange... <em>Weird<em> things started to happen. There must be a reason».  
>Pitch knew she was referring to that man she killed that, Hades told him, had shocked her so much. He breathed and felt it, very soft – a drop of fear. Fear of the past.<br>Because past is the only thing no one can slay and beat and destroy, not even the Ice Queen and her powers.  
>«Everything has a reason, but only few are so lucky to know it».<br>«Why did he call you, Pitch?»  
>«Why can you see me, Elsa?»<br>The Ice Queen took a deep breath. The fingers stopped drumming.  
>«I know there´s something» she concluded. «And I´m gonna discover it».<br>«Good luck, then».

Elsa stood up, but hesitated before walking away.  
>«I have another question».<br>«Go ahead» Pitch said.  
>The Guardian of Nightmares got up himself and waited: the blonde looked like she was searching for the right words.<br>«Do you know every person that is having nightmares right now?»  
>Pitch frowned, confused.<br>«I'm afraid I'm not following you».  
>«You control nightmares. Are you aware of the position of every single one of your Nightmares Horses? Do you know who is having nightmares now? What they're dreaming?»<br>Pitch remained silent for a while, trying to sense the reason of that question. But it had nothing to do with fear – he couldn't smell it in the air – and so he could not be sure.  
>«Every power is special» he answered. «Every power is different. Mine is quite particular – it works in various ways, but not in this one» he frowned, again. «Is this still about Hades?»<br>Elsa shook her head.  
>«No. Stop worrying, you're not his bodyguard» she shrugged. «Forget it».<br>And she walked away, leaving ghosts of question marks wherever she stepped.

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Author's notes.

Hil: Uhm, hi.  
>I'm Hil, and since my biggest talent is being lazy and diving in a sea of trouble, I'm introducing myself just now. (Way to go Hil, way to go).<br>..._anyway_, as you probably noticed we had a serious delay with updates here. And I wanted to say that it's my fault, but it won't happen again. At least, if it happens you are invited with torches and weapons to my "Let's get rid of the delayer" party.  
>Aaaanyway guys, thanks so much for the support, the nasty anons you send me (and maybe Ser too but she won't admit it), the favs, follows and whatsnot. We really appreciate that.<br>The updates will be every two weeks from now on, since chapters are longer than the average and, you know... SCHOOL. *dun dun duuuun*

And, replying to spooths, the devil is just a metaphor for Hades here. Hades is the devil, since he's the god of the dead and *insert boring Hil explaining all her mental rambling about how she loves that flaming villain*. You say they are evil, but not _devil evil_?  
>...just <em>wait<em>.

Okay, so, next time, guys.  
>Stay awesome.<br>H.


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